Lost
by Ravena Felidae
Summary: A story passed on from animefreak469 to moi.While on a simple mission, our team of Konoha genins are transported to another realm, where everyone there is basically, a ghost. With the help from our favorite shinigami sub, Ichigo, will they get home?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…

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R.F. : As of this moment I have been given total ownership of this story by animefreak469, the original writer of this story. She has allowed to tweak the story and continue it on her behalf, so I send her my thanks! I won't let you down! (By the way, my Oc's, kaori Nekojiwa and Yue are starring in this fic.)

* * *

It was another quiet day out in the desert. Too bad it didn't stay like that for long.

"FACE IT WE'RE LOST!!!!" Kiba yelled at Naruto. Kiba, his puppy Akamaru, Naruto, Kaori , her kitten Yue, and Ino were on a simple mission; pick up the Lady Hokage's favorite candy…

* * *

(Flashback)

**"BRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIING BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!"**

Naruto slammed his hand on his alarm clock. He got up, stretching his arms and yawning at the same time. "ALRIGHT!!! TIME FOR SOME BREAKFAST!!!" Naruto said as he leaped out of bed and ran to the kitchen for his most favorite food, ramen.

After a few minutes of waiting, Naruto was ready to eat. "FINALLY!!!" Naruto said as he ripped off the cover of the ramen. The boy licked his lips just as he was about to take his first bite, but before he could there was a knock at his door. Actually, knocking doesn't really describe it, it was more like pounding the crap out of the door.

"HEY NARUTO!!! OPEN UP!!!" a familiar voiced yelled, this was followed by the sound of puppy barking.

Naruto groaned, he didn't like anyone ruining his breakfast, let alone Kiba. But he knew if he didn't open the door, Kiba would just find another way to come in-most likely a destructive one.

"Alright, alright I'm coming" Naruto said getting up. Just as Naruto opened the door, he was greeted with a punch in the face that sent him spinning. "ITAAAAAIIIIII!!!" Naruto said while rubbing his cheek that was beginning to swell.

"DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S RUDE TO KEEP A LADY WAITING!?" Ino screamed at Naruto.

Kaori and Yue rolled their eyes. "Well, he never knew that there were ladies waiting to begin with," stated Kaori bluntly.

"And we never said anything so we never gave him any indication of any females standing outside his door- nya," added Yue.

A vein throbbed on Ino's forehead as she looked at them growling. She knew they had a point. Kaori and Yue just stared back with stoic looks on their faces.

"Sorry…anyway what are you guys doing here?" Naruto questioned.

"The Hokage wants to see us,"was the reply from Yue. Akamaru barked.

* * *

( A short time skip later)

"Naruto, Ino, Kaori and Kiba I'm assigning you on a very simple mission" Lady Tsunade began.

"AWWW!!!" Naruto complained. "Why an easy mission?!"

"Shut up idiot!" Kiba growled. "My team has had nothing but hard missions recently"

Akamaru barked in agreement.

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. He gave Kiba the I-don't-like-that-you-told-me-off look."Anyway…" the Hokage continued. "All you have to do is go to Suna and get me my favorite candy-chocolate covered Ninjas".

"Why those candies?" Naruto questioned Tsunade.

"I specially requested them to be modeled after REAL Konoha ninjas, because sometimes I JUST WANT TO BITE SOME OF YOUR HEADS OFF!!!" Tsunade screamed.

"Oh you mean like Sasuke-teme right?" Naruto asked.

"No I MEAN LIKE YOU!!!" Tsunade screamed. Naruto winced.

Kiba snickered. "Kiba, YOUR SECOND ON MY LIST!!!" Tsunade screamed again. Kiba turned bright red as it was Naruto's turn to snicker. Ino and Kaori side glanced each other.

"NOW GET GOING YOU FOUR!!!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" they all replied and with that, Naruto, Kaori, Kiba, and Ino left.

(End of flashback)

* * *

"WE'RE LOST!!!" Kiba screamed again at Naruto. "I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER FOLLOWED YOUR DIRECTIONS" Naruto and Kiba started bickering. Akamaru whined as he jumped into Kaori's arms while Yue jumped on her mistress's shoulder. Kaori scratched Akamaru's ears to comfort the pup. Ino was looking very pissed off from the heat.

"Will you two SHUT UP ALREADY!!!!" Ino screamed at the boys causing them to immediately shut up.

"Ino-chan?"asked Kaori.

**"What!" **she snapped.

"Do you see a river too?"

Ino and the boys turned to where Kaori was referring to. Sure enough, there was a sparkling blue river rushing through the desert.

None of them had anything to drink in 10 hours so… "WATER!!!" Naruto and Kiba screamed. They both started to run towards the river and jumped into the water.

"WAIT YOU IDIOTS!!!" Ino screamed "WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESSERT!!! THIS MIGHT BE A-"

Suddenly, a giant black hand appeared and pulled Naruto and Kiba underwater before they had time to react. "Trap…"

"Oi....." groaned Kaori as she slapped her forehead.

"Come on! After them!" exclaimed Ino as she began running towards the river. Kaori followed suit. At the same time, both girls jumped in with Akamaru and Yue coming in after them.

No sooner did they jumped in, a pleasant warm feeling over came the girls. Suddenly, both girls found themselves to be thrown out on to green grass. Yue and Akamaru were sprawled on top of Kaori as she sat up. Ino rubbed her sore elbow, while Kaori cracked her neck.

"Kaori-chan! Ino!" called a familiar voice.

Both girls turned to see Kiba and Naruto running up to them. Akamaru yapped happily as he jumped out of Kaori's arms and dived into his owner's grinned as he rubbed Akamaru's head. The pup gave it's owner an affectionate lick on the chin in return. "You girls okay?" asked Kiba.

"Apart from sore butts, just dandy," replied Kaori.

"What about that giant hand that pulled you two in?" asked Ino next.

Naruto replied with a shrug. "You got us, one minute we're dragged underwater, the next we were dumped in this weird place."

Suddenly, Yue leaped out of Kaori's hood and ran ahead up a hill. "Kaori-sama, come and look at this!" she called.

The group climbed up the hill, curious. The moment they reached it's peak, the four genin were greeted with the most amazing view of a city with a large white tower in the distance surrounded by high walls. "What is this place?" asked Ino.

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R.F: To be continued......


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto…

"Where are we?" Ino questioned.

Kaori shrugged. "Beats me, nice view though," she said casually, shielding her eyes from the sun.

The other three looked at her with utter disbelief on their faces. _'Why is she so calm about this?!'_

Suddenly, Akamaru and Yue jumped down from their respective owners' arms. Both their fur was beginning to stand as Akamaru began to growl and snarl ferociously while Yue was also doing the same thing with equal ferocity. Both their eyes had dilated into slits as they swiveled around searching the area. "Akamaru? What's up boy?" asked Kiba.

"We sense a strong dark presence..... and it's coming closer......." hissed Yue. Akamaru barked in agreement.

A loud terrifying howl vibrated in the air. **"I smell 4 strong retiatsu!!!!!" **an invisible voice roared.

All four genins felt danger approaching them as they quickly braced themselves for attack. Kiba had his soldier pills on standby while Kaori hand quickly closed around her 'Heavy Weapon' Scroll. Slowly just before their eyes a huge monsterous form began to materialize in front of the ninjas. It had a huge black bulking figure that resembled a cross between a reptile and a primate. It wore a white mask that appeared to be reptilian and had a huge gaping hole in it's stomach. A long powerful spiked monkey's tail swished behind it as moved it's hand toward the kids.

"LOOK OUT!!!!" Kiba yelled, alerting the others to quickly jump out of the way.

In a flash, Kiba swallowed a soldier pill and tossed the other one to Akamaru, who also managed to catch it in his mouth and swallow it. Immediately, Akamaru's began to turn a dark shade of red as he landed on Kiba's back. _"Beast Clone Jutsu!"_ yelled Kiba as his pup turned into an identical copy of his master.

Kaori quickly whipped out her red 'Heavy Weapon' scroll and let it unravel before her as she bit her thumb and smeared her blood on it. In a puff of smoke, a pair of large golden cat bells attached to a long silver sash **(Check: Kaori's Weapon artillery, on profile.)** appeared in her hands. Kaori swiftly got into her battle stance. _"Heavy Weapon: Cat Sash Bells!"_ she exclaimed.

_"Winged Beast Jutsu!" _yelled Yue as a pair of white wings grew out of her back and engulfed the kitten in a large puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a large greyish, silver, saber- tooth leopard with huge white stretched her wings to their full length and roared.

**"I want to eat!! Give me your retiatsu!!!!!"**roared the monster as it tried to make a snatch at Ino, who jumped.

While in the air, Ino whipped out kunai and raised it above her head. "GO ON A DIET!" she retorted as she dropped and plunged the kunai into the creature's right arm. The monster gave a cry of pain as it flailed it's giant arm throwing into the air.

The girl screamed as she felt herself falling. Suddenly Kaori appeared riding Yue and grabbed her arm, swinging Ino onto Yue's back. "You okay?" Kaori asked.

"Never been better."

"Okay, play times over" Naruto said as he began to form the hand signs for the Shadow clone jutsu.

"LOOK OUT!!!!" Ino screamed as another one of the monster's hand came down on Naruto before he had a chance to activate the technique.

"NARUTO!!!" Ino and Kiba screamed simultaneously as Naruto was smashed into the ground.

Naruto struggled as the monster lifted him up and held him up to it's face. The monster sniffed the boy.** "You have a very high level of retiatsu, and it's unique too, this definitely would be satisfying..."**

Naruto glared at the monster. "Yeah, this would... for me!" he said as he manged to slip his arms out of the monster's grasp and form the desired seal. _"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"_

A clone of Naruto quickly appeared and stabbed the monster's arm with a kunai like what Ino did. The monster gave a cry of pain and dropped Naruto to the ground. "Kiba!" he called.

"You got it! Let's go Akamaru!" said Kiba as he and his pup jumped into the air and began to spin rapidly._ "Gatsuga!!!!"_ he cried, as Akamaru and his attack hit the monster, only to go through the hole in it's stomach.

"A hole in one...." said Yue bluntly.

"10 points!" announced Kaori holding up a sign with the said score. She then simply tilted her head to the side to dodge Ino's punch from behind.

**"DON'T SCORE THEM, BAKA!!!" **yelled Ino and Naruto.

Suddenly the monster opened it's mouth and out shot an extremely long tongue with saliva running down on the surface. Both girls screamed in surprise as Ino quickly grabbed on to Kaori's waist and Kaori onto Yue as the flying leopard made a dive to avoid it. The tongue shot back into the creature's mouth as fast as it shot out. "Ewwwww!" Ino squealed in disgust as she used her handkerchief to wipe saliva of her face.

"Monster spit..... charming...." muttered Kaori sarcastically she wiped saliva of her own face with her own handkerchief.

"Look out!" yelled the boys as the monster's tongue shot out again.

This time Yue flapped her wings so that they soared out of reach. Blue static began forming on Yue's fangs. Noticing this Kaori quickly jumped off the leopard's back and twirled one of her bells so quickly that electricity could be seen sparking. _"Lightning Style: Lightning Shot!" _she yelled, throwing one of her static covered bells at the creature.

At the same time Yue cried ,_"Roar of Raiju!!!"_ opening her jaws and roared, expelling a huge surge of azure lightning.

Both attacks hit the monster dead on. Ino, Yue and Kaori landed on the ground next to Naruto. Kiba and Akamaru quickly caught up with them. The smoke cleared to show the monster very much unfazed and pissed.

"You've got to be kidding me...."groaned Naruto.

* * *

"Are we almost there?" asked Ichigo Kurosaki, our favorite orange headed substitute shinigami, as he dashed through the forest of the Soul Society.

"Yeah, I can feel it," replied Rukia Kuchiki, a regular shinigami, as she ran along side him. As they came to the clearing a deafening was heard.

* * *

The monster gave a deafening roar. Kaori turned to the others. "Everyone, attack together!"

The rest nodded in acknowledgment. The monster dashed forward and slammed a fist at where the genins where standing. They quickly dodged. Kaori leaped onto Yue's back and soared into the sky. "Now Ino!" she called to her friend who stood on the ground.

Ino nodded as she formed a rectangle with her fingers. _"Ninja Art: Mind Destruction Jutsu!"_

Suddenly the monster felt it's body go stiff. It began trying to break the invisible force that was restraining it. Ino gritted her teeth as she began to use her full strength to keep the jutsu intact. "Hurry, I can't hold for long!" she yelled as her hands began to quiver.

Naruto quickly created a shadow clone and began to form Rasengan in his palm. Kiba and a transformed Akamaru were on standby while Kaori began to collect static electricity in one of her bells while gathered energy in her saber-toothed fangs. "HURRY!" cried Ino desperately as she felt her hold was slipping. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

"NOW!" yelled Kaori.

_"Lightning Style: Lightning Bell!"_

_"Roar of Raiju!"_

_"Gatsuga!"_

_"Rasengan!"_

All four attacks flew at the creature at great speed. At the last moment, Ino quickly released the technique just as the attacks the monster full on, causing an explosion.

* * *

Meanwhile our two shinigami arrived at the scene just in time to catch the explosion.

* * *

"Did we get it?" asked Naruto as Kaori and Yue, transforming back into her kitten form landed right beside him. Kiba and Akamaru (who had transformed back to his original form) had already caught up to them at that point.

Ino was starting run towards them when the monster appeared out of the smoke roaring. The combination attack only succeded in cracking it's mask and dismembering one of it's arms and blasted off half it's tail. The monster roared as it reached down to grab Ino. "INO!!!" her teammates yelled to warn her.

Ino seeing the giant hand coming towards her, screamed, closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her head. As she braced for impact, she heard the clashing of metal and blow never came. Slowly she opened her eyes to see a man, a teenager at most with bright orange hair and was wearing a black male kimono. He effortlessly stopped the monster's giant fist with a large black sword as long as the guy himself and had no hilt, giving it an appearance similar to a kitchen knife.

"Huh, picking on kids, that's low even for a Hollow," the man said.

He turned his head slightly to look at Ino. "Hey kid, you okay?" he asked. Ino, to shocked to talk, nodded in guy turned back to the monster. "Damn it, BACK OFF!" he yelled as pushed the giant fist of his sword and cut off the creature's hand, causing blood to spray. The guy quickly turned around, grabbed Ino bridal style and carried her to her friends. Ino blushed as her hand brushed against the teenager's well muscled chest. "Rukia, NOW!" he called.

Suddenly, , a woman appeared in the air from behind the monster with a regular size sword and cut the monster's head in half. She was dressed the same way as the man, but she had black, neck length hair. As soon as the monster's head split in half, literally, the whole monster disappeared. The woman landed on the ground gracefully in front of the Kaori, Kiba and Naruto. The boys mouths were hung open in shock while Kaori who managed maintain a straight face clearly showed shock in her eyes. The man caught up to them and set down Ino, still slightly blushing, with them.

Everyone there, ninjas, feline, canine and shinigami alike, all had the same thought going through their head. _'Who are these people?'_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or Naruto…

* * *

"Ano…" Ino said nervously while blushing slightly. "Thank you for saving us!"

"We are extremely grateful for your timely assistance…."said Kaori, bowing slightly.

"You're welcome…I guess…" the tall orange head said, sweat dropping a little.

The 2 boy ninjas just stood there. Ino elbowed the boys hard. "Ow!!!...oh yeah…, thanks…" the two boys mumbled.

Ino shot the guys an angry glare which caused them to flinch a little. "Ano…I'm Yamanaka Ino! Nice to meet you!" Ino said looking up at the two people, particularly the guy as she clasped her hands together with hearts replacing her pupils.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto-ttebayo!" said Naruto grinning.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and Lady Blue here is Nekojiwa Kaori," introduced Kiba before gesturing to the said person next to him, who bowed.

Suddenly, two wiggling lumps appeared on the two kids' chest and out popped two furry little heads. A white pup with floppy brown ears appeared out of Kiba's jacket while a gray kitten with blue eyes stuck her head out of Kaori's jacket. The boy and girl smiled as they scratched the ears of their respective pets.

"And might I introduce Kiba's pup, Akamaru and my dear friend, Yue…" said Kaori.

Akamaru barked in greeting. "Greetings…" said Yue.

"Same to you," replied the orange head.

All of a sudden, the shorter, black haired female of the two, bent forward and looked at Akamaru and Yue with stars in her eyes. Kiba and Kaori looked at each other before looking down at Yue and Akamaru, who nodded.

"You can pet them if you want….." the two kids said.

"KAWAII!!!!!!!" squealed the girl happily as she grabbed the kitten and pup and hugged them tightly.

"_Air…."_ strained Yue, as she felt Rukia cuddle her to death.

"Well anyway," the orange haired boy said. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, substitute Shinagami."

"Ichigo…."muttered Kaori before placing her fingers over lips to suppress a smirk. "What a cute name…" she muttered to herself.

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he noticed the visible shaking of Kaori's shoulders as the girl silently held back a chuckle.

"And I'm Kuchiki Rukia, Shinigami, 13th Division," said the black haired girl, who had finally released Akamaru and Yue, who crawled back to their respective masters.

Ino, Kiba and Naruto's eyes widened as their mouths dropped open. "Eh? SHINIGAMI?!"

"I am quite surprised that you two don't seem startled by Yue's ability to talk," stated Kaori to the two shinigami.

'_WHY IS SHE NOT SHOCKED AT THE SITUATION?!_' the three other genin mentally yelled in disbelief.

"Trust me, after all I've been through, hardly anything surprises me," replied Ichigo as a certain black cat and fox captain came to mind.

Rukia nodded in agreement. Suddenly her eyes widened as she noticed that none of the kids had broken spirit chains on their chests while feeling intense spiritual pressure radiating of all four kids.

The girl quickly tugged on her partner's sleeve and gestured her head to the nearby forest.

"Um…could you excuse us please?" Ichigo asked as he went over to Rukia. "What's up, Rukia?"

"_Ichigo! These kids are not normal!"_ Rukia whispered loudly. _"They have VERY ridiculously high spiritual pressure and call me crazy but I think it's possible that they were the ones who created that explosion earlier!" _

"_Now that you've mentioned it, none of those kids have broken spirit links so they can't be ghosts…"_ Ichigo whispered back. _"And none actually sustained any injuries from that Hollow, especially that blond kid…"_

"_Which blond kid, the girl or the boy?"_ asked Kaori who appeared next to Ichigo's head, standing upside down on a tree branch, scaring the heck out of the two shinigami. Yeah, you read that right. She was STANDING not hanging.

"_Why are we whispering?" _asked Naruto from behind Rukia, providing a second shock.

"_Yo!,"_ said Kiba and Ino in unison, resulting a third shock.

Ichigo and Rukia had a shocked expression on their face. "Um…how long have you been there…?" Ichigo asked nervously.

"Exactly from the point where Rukia-oneesan said _These kids are not normal!_" Kaori replied, imitating Rukia's voice and tone perfectly as she flipped herself of the tree branch.

"What are you kids? Ninjas or something?! We didn't even sense you!" blurted out Rukia.

The four genins looked at each other before looking at the two shinigami.

"Yes…" "Bingo-nya…" "Uh-huh." "Yup! Believe it!" "Pretty much, yeah." "ARF!" replied Kaori, Yue, Ino, Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru simultaneously.

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other and then sniggered before bursting out into laughter.

"HEY! What's so FUNNY!" demanded a fuming Naruto.

"Yeah, like you expect us to believe that a bunch of 12 year olds like you are ninjas!" exclaimed Ichigo, before resuming his laughter.

Looks of annoyance appeared visibly on Ino, Kiba and Naruto's faces. Even Kaori appeared to be a bit peeved.

"Aren't ninjas supposed to look something like this?" asked Rukia before throwing of her kimono and posing in a crouching position with a katana on her back wearing the stereotypical ninja costume complete with a mask covering half her face. The scenery behind her changed to a bamboo forest while leaves began to fall down and Japanese flute music played in the background.

"Well aren't Shinigami supposed to look like this?..." retorted Kaori calmly as her back ground changed into a graveyard scene with a Grim Reaper-like figure standing there brandishing a deadly scythe in its skeletal hands. Lightning flashed in the back ground as organ music and wolf howling played in the background.

"Touché…" said Ichigo, folding his arms.

"DON'T INSULT SHINIGAMI LIKE THAT!" yelled Rukia angrily as she sliced down the background into pieces, broke the scythe in half and tore the cloak off, revealing Ino who held a pair of skeletal hands while sitting on Naruto's shoulders while Naruto was sitting on Kiba's shoulders.

"Hey, you started it…," replied Ino.

"Touché, again…."

Rukia growled in annoyance at Ichigo, who ignored her. "Fine say if we believe you, how did you kids managed to get into Soul Society?"

"We were in the middle of mission, when we saw a river mysteriously appear and a giant black hand reached out and grabbed two of our comrades. So naturally we jumped in after them and wound up here at present time," explained Yue, popping her head out of Kaori's jacket.

The rest of the ninjas nodded.

Ichigo quirked his eyebrow, still unsure whether to believe them. _'Then again… I'm not exactly in the right position to say anything…' _he thought.

"Hmm…. a river mysteriously appearing, eh?" asked Rukia, folding her arms and supporting her chin between her thumb and index finger. The others looked to her hopefully for information.

"I have no clue!" she declared, causing everyone to fall anime style while Kaori's head drooped forward and sweatdropped.

* * *

RF: NYA-HA! Chp 3 is finally up! Sorry for the long wait!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto

* * *

"Soooo, where exactly are we?" asked Kiba as he looked about at the tall walls around him. He gave fleeting glances to a few people who wore similar kimonos to Ichigo and Rukia. Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Why don't you explain Rukia-san?" asked Ichigo folding his arms behind his head.

"Hai, hai...." replied Rukia. "This whole dimension you guys are in is called Soul Society."

"Soul Society?" asked Kiba, Naruto and Ino.

"Also known as the Spirit World," said Kaori. All of them nodded at the same time.

_**SCREECH!**_ The group stopped in their tracks. "How the heck did you know?!" asked Ichigo in shock.

"AND WHY ARE YOU SO CALM?!" yelled the other three ninja.

"Soul Society is equivalent to that of Heaven or Nirvana in human belief. This is where all souls pass on to and where the shinigami dwell. That's as far as my knowledge has on this place," said Yue in a dull voice as she yawned, curled up Kaori's hood and fell asleep.

"And that's that," said Kaori bluntly, ignoring the shocked faces of her friends and Ichigo.

"Hoho!" said Rukia clearly impressed as she placed a hand on her hip and placed a thumb under her chin. "We have a well versed one here!" Rukia exclaimed with a glint in her eye.

Kaori shrugged as she continued walking with Rukia ahead of the group. Ichigo turned to the remaining three. "What the heck is she and that cat?" he asked.

Kiba, Naruto and Ino turned to the teenager. "Honestly, we have no clue......" they replied waving a hand in front of their faces.

* * *

It wasn't long before the group found themselves in a large sitting room. It was actually pretty homey, with a sofa set and coffee table and the works.A while ago, Ichigo and Rukia had left them there temporarily saying that they would return shortly with a friend while they went to report the situation. The four genin sat together on the same sofa in silence. "This feels pretty awkward somehow....." muttered Ino.

"You're telling me..." replied Kiba holding Akamaru who sat on his lap. The puppy whined in agreement.

Kaori, Yue and Naruto just sighed heavily. Suddenly everybody perked their heads up when they heard the familiar voices of Rukia and Ichigo along with the voice of an older woman. Just then, a woman with long wavy orange hair wearing a boobs-ahoy black shinigami kimono bounced into the room and trust me, there was a lot of bouncing. The four genin looked at the woman with huge eyes.

"Sweet oogley moogley....."muttered Kaori and Yue.

"Holy..."was all Naruto and Kiba could say.

_'I never thought it was possible...this lady has bigger jugs than Tsunade-sama!!!!'_thought Ino in her head.

The woman looked at them with an adoring look in her eyes. "AWWW~! Aren't they the cutest children ever! And they have a puppy and a kitten!"she squealed grabbing Akamaru and Yue and hugging them against her huge bosom.

"Oh help Kami-sama....."pleaded Yue in a small voice while Akamaru whined as they both almost got smothered with love. Too much love. Who knows what would have happened if Rukia hadn't intervened.

"Guys, this is the Lieutenant of the 10th division, she's agreed to take care of you for the time being till we've sorted out the situation at hand," explained Rukia.

"I'm Matsumoto Rangiku-desu~!" said the busty woman.

"H-hai...."replied the four genins.

"Well then," said Ichigo as he turned to leave with Rukia. "We'll be going now."

"Seeya'!" said Rukia as she closed the door behind them.

"Bye-bye~!" they heard Rangiku say.

* * *

While both Ichigo and Rukia were getting to the nearest spiritual gateway, the teenage can't help but look back at the tower where they left the kids.

"Do you think leaving them with Matsumoto-san is a good idea?" asked Ichigo with a bit of uneasiness in his voice.

"It was either her or Mayuri-taichou....."replied Rukia as she unlocked the gate with her Zanpaktou.

Both of them shuddered at the thought of the creepy captain of the 12th division. At that moment, a small black butterfly came fluttering around Ichigo's head. Rukia glanced at it before shifting her attention to her friend. "The Hell Butterfly is here, take care Ichigo," Rukia said smiling.

"You too Rukia-san," replied Ichigo, patting her on the back before following the black butterfly through the spirit gateway.

Rukia smiled as she watched the gate close behind him. Suddenly, Rukia felt something brush past her legs just moments before the gate was closed properly. "Must be my imagination....." she muttered to herself as she shrugged her shoulders and walked off.

When she left, Akamaru got up and watched Rukia walk away. He was told by Kiba to follow the two shinigami in order to look for a way out. Anything to get a way from the big chested lady who was busy at the moment smothering the genins with bone crushing hugs......

Akamaru looked around to see if the coast was clear before leaping back up to the room.

* * *

(In the room)

All four breathed huge sighs of relief when Rangiku was called away for work.

"It's about time Ms. 'Boobs-Ahoy' left, I seriously thought I was going to die...." muttered Ino as she slumped over the arm rest of the sofa.

Kaori simply groaned leaning back while Kiba and Naruto were looking dazed and blushing with nosebleeds down their faces. The light pitter-patter of feet by the window got the attention of everyone. "Have you found a way out Akamaru?" asked Kiba as the pup jumped on to the coffee table.

Akamaru nodded and barked a few times. Kiba nodded in understanding.

"It seems that the only way in or out of this place is through a special gate located a various spots in the perimeter. From our observations we have found out that only shinigami have access to them and need to be guided by a black butterfly known as a Hell Butterfly," he translated.

"And Yue?" asked Kaori.

"She's through."

Kaori closed her eyes and leaned back deep in thought. The others looked at her. "In our current situation, we can't afford to trust these people yet. I say our only way out is to tail Rukia-neesan and wait for the right opportunity to use those gates."

"Hold it Kaori-san! Why do we have to escape? Maybe if we stick around, we can get a clue to how we're gonna get home!" Kiba spoke up suddenly.

"I'm with Kiba!" agreed Naruto.

"And why Rukia-neesan?" asked Ino.

***BANG*** Kaori slammed a hand on the table to silence the others. "I just have a feeling that Rukia-neesan might know someone who can get us back to our world! Don't doubt my judgment!" she said fiercely.

At that moment the room went silent as everybody stared at Kaori in surprise. This was the first time that the normally quiet and almost emotionless girl ever raised her voice angrily. Suddenly Kaori gasped when she released what she just did. "Gomenasai.... I lost control of my temper......" she said, calming down. "So, are you guys in?"

The three looked at one another and nodded. "We trust you Kaori-chan!" said Naruto, smiling reassuringly. Akamaru looked at all four of them and nodded as well.

* * *

**(Later....)**

"Gomenasai, kids~! My meeting took longer than expec-" Matsumoto began to say as she opened the door, only to find no one. "-ted..."

It was about now panic decided to grip her. "THEY'RE GONE!" she screamed loudly as she went into the room and began searching behind the furniture frantically. "I'll be screwed if Rukia-san and Ichigo find out that I lost the kids!"

Unbeknown to Matsumoto, in her midst of frantic-ness, she failed to notice the open window by the couch. If she had looked out of it, she would have been able catch the four running figures fleeing the building.

* * *

Meanwhile, when the four genin were good distance away from the building, they came to a stop and breathed huge sighs of relief.

"That was too easy....." stated Ino bluntly. "Come on we've gotta find Rukia-neesan if we wanna get out of here."

Kiba and Akamaru smirked at the same time. "No problem, Akamaru and I still remember her scent, we'll find her in no time!" he said confidently.

Naruto gave the boy a thumbs up and grinned. "We're counting on you guys!"

The dog and boy pair grinned and immediately began sniffing the air. Kaori turned to Ino and Naruto. "Here's our plan, find Rukia-neesan and follow her, simple enough."

At that moment Kiba and Akamaru managed to get a hold of Rukia's scent. "THAT WAY!" the Inuzuka boy said.

"Let's GO!" exclaimed Naruto excitedly as the group began moving in that direction with Akamaru in the lead.

The ninjas darted swiftly from building to building, careful not to be seen by anyone.

* * *

Ichigo yawned loudly as he found his way back to his house. It was night by the time he returned to Karakura Town and it was very late. He fished in his pocket for the house key and entered slowly closing the door behind him. He tiptoed quietly up the stairs to his room and removed his top shirt and collapsed on the bed in exhaustion, falling asleep in his pants and singlet. Unknown to him, a little gray kitten had followed him into the house and to his room. The kitten crouched quietly in a dark corner and waited till Ichigo fell asleep before jumping on his bed and curling up next to him exhausted. _'I'll do my best, Kaori-sama...'_ Yue thought before drifting to sleep.

****************

The next morning, Ichigo awoke with a start at the sound of his alarm clock. He blinked a bit waiting for the blurriness in his eyes to disappear. He then turned off the noisy alarm and sighed. "That's right, I came back home..." he muttered. Suddenly he looked down and noticed a few short gray hairs on his blanket.

"GOOD MORNING, ICHIGO!" cried out a man's voice from outside the window, interrupting Ichigo's thoughts.

Without even flinching, Ichigo simply leaned forward away from the window as a man wearing a white lab coat and orange patterned shirt came crashing through the window. The teenager rubbed his neck and turned to see his father on the ground cringing in pain a little. "You've improved, Ichigo!" he said. "You dodged Daddy's Wonderful Bitter Crying!" he exclaimed jumping to his feet.

"Be quiet!" snapped Ichigo in annoyance as he proceeded to take off his shirt. _**(R.F: I almost died watching it~!)**_

"Then how about my Crazy-" **SMACK!** went Ichigo's foot as he slammed it in his father's face.

"I'm telling you you're being to loud in the morning!" he yelled proceeding to beat his father up.

Yue sighed from under Ichigo's bed as she watched the two men brawl. Her stomach began to growl as she heard a young girl calling for her father and brother for breakfast. _"I'm hungry.....but I can't afford to let them see me here..."_

_**********_

After a few minutes of waiting, Ichigo and his father finally left the room and Yue was able to come out safely_. _Her stomach growled again causing Yue to sigh once more. "Now, I'm really hungry...." she said climbing out the window.

Yue's eyes scanned the area for prey until her eyes finally rested on four sparrows sitting on a wall outside Ichigo's house. The kitten's pupils narrowed into slits and began to spin her tail in the air. Electricity began to spark as Yue called upon her lightning chakra. _"Lightning Style: Spark Daggers...."_ she said jumping into the air and shot four lightining bolts at the sparrows with such speed and accuracy that the birds got knocked off the wall and fell to the ground all nice, dead and crispy thanks to the heat from the lightning. Yue landed on the wall and then to the ground where she licked her chops upon seeing her prey. "Itadakimasu," she said before she began to eat her breakfast.

A few minutes later, Yue was sitting next to a small pile of bones and feathers, grooming herself. Just then she heard Ichigo closing the door behind him and saw him walking away from the house and from her position. The kitten quickly got to her feet and followed him. While she trailed quietly behind the boy, Yue looked at her surroundings in wonder. It was very different compared to Soul society and Konoha. The sight of cars and buses intrigued her greatly and but there were certain forms of technology that Yue was familiar with, such as the basic household items and such. She was so engrossed with her surroundings that by the time she re focused her thoughts, Yue realized she had lost sight of Ichigo. "Oh Shitzu...." she muttered.

* * *

To be continued....


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

"Oh Shitzu..." muttered Yue when she realized that she had lost sight of Ichigo. She immediately began to sniff the air to try and catch a whiff of the boy's scent. Just as Yue managed to get a hold of Ichigo's scent she heard the sound of someone grumbling very loudly.

"Damn it, where the heck is Ichigo's school?!" a man's voice growled from behind her.

Yue quickly ducked behind a nearby trash can and peeked to see a young man around Ichigo's height with crimson colored hair covered by a white hat. He wore sunglasses, along with a yellow t-shirt under a white vest with a guitar strapped to his back with blue jeans. _'He knows Ichigo?'_ Just then a thought struck the kitten. She sat still for a moment, waiting for the guy to pass her while drawing out her chakra. _"Catgirl Jutsu!"_ she whispered, exploding into a puff of smoke.

____________

Renji Abarai placed his hands in his pockets as he looked around for any directions that would lead him to Karakura High.

"Ano....sumimasen, onii-san?" called a young female voice from behind him.

Renji turned around to see a 12 year old girl with long, light silver hair tied in a low ponytail with a blue ribbon and azure colored, almond shaped eyes. She had a pair of blue curved stripes on each cheek and wore a blue crescent gem on a black choker. She wore light blue cardigan over a blackish gray tank-top with dark blue jeans held by a black belt. For some reason, Renji felt that her face reminded him of a cat. "What is it, kid? I'm busy."

The girl looked up at him with big eyes. "I'm sorry but you looked like you're looking for someone," she said. "I'm looking for someone too, he's goes to the local high school here I believe."

"Do you know which?" asked Renji, feeling intrigued by the girl.

The girl shook her head. "But I do know where it is located, maybe the person you seek is there too," she said before turning a walking down a street.

"Strange kid..." he muttered following the girl.

* * *

At Karakura High, Ichigo was just walking towards his classroom when a brown haired guy (guess who?) came rushing at him cheerfully. "Iiichigo-**" WHAM! **went Keigo Asano as Ichigo lifted his arm and tensed his muscles so that the guy ran smack into it hard.

"Hey," replied Ichigo nonchalantly.

"Morning, Ichigo!" greeted another boy with black hair.

"Hey Mizuiro," the said person replied walking into the classroom with his friend.

Keigo lay on the with his nose bleeding. "Long time no see Ichigo....."he strained. "and myself..."

-------

After meeting up with Chad and Orihime almost spilling the beans about their time in Soul Society, the teacher quickly came to take attendance. While the teacher went through the list and the morning announcements, Ichigo glanced at the empty desk next to where Rukia used to sit. Thanks to the Soul Society, everybody had their memories scrambled so nobody noticed that the class had a shortage of one student. Ichigo was in the middle of a flashback with Rukia when a loud obnoxious male voice yelled, "WHERE ARE YOU?! BE GOOD AND COME OUT HERE!" from outside the school.

Everybody quickly got up from their seats and walked over to the window to see who was yelling.

--------------

"Kurosaki Ichigo, I know where you are!" yelled Renji from the school yard.

Yue stood behind him and sighed heavily. "He's as bad as Gai-sensei....." she muttered when she heard the sound of running foot steps approaching. She turned to see Ichigo running towards him screaming, "YOU JERK!"

"YO!" greeted Renji care freely.

"DON'T SAY 'YO' SO EASILY!!!!!" Ichigo screamed before wrapping his arm around Renji's neck and dashing past Yue into some nearby bushes.

Yue looked in the direction where the two ran off in surprise. Just then Yue felt a tingle run down her spine as her animal instinct caused Yue to dilate her pupils into slits.

Meanwhile in the bushes, Ichigo's substitute shinigami badge began to blink like crazy, alerting the two guys to turn their heads to a black swirling mass that appeared in the middle of the school field and begun to take shape into a huge hulking figure with two large arms that hung low. "Hollow." said Ichigo, frowning.

The Hollow then began stomping towards the school and since because only Orihime, Chad and Uryu could see it they were the only ones who felt the danger approaching. Back in the bushes, Renji began to have some trouble getting out of his gigai. "Damn this stupid- wait! The girl! Ichigo, there's a kid out there! I don't think she can see it!" exclaimed Renji worriedly.

"Nani?!" yelled Ichigo as he dashed out to see a 12 year old girl standing in the path of the hollow with her back turned. She didn't seem notice that there was a 4 storey high monster behind that was about to make a grab for her with an over-sized hand. "WATCH OUT!" he yelled.

Just as he was about to make rush forward, the girl suddenly sprouted a pair of silver cat ears from her hair while her hands and feet mutated into paws and a long fluffy tail sprouted out from the back of her jeans. At the same time the Hollow brought a hand down to grab her, the girl leaped into high into the air until she was at the monster's mask, lifting up one leg, the cat girl spun once in the air and delivered a hard kick to the Hollow's face that was so strong the monster actually fell off balance. Renji and Ichigo' s mouths fell open in shock.

In class, the three people who could see the Hollow also stared in shock as an unfamiliar cat girl appeared into view and took the Hollow down with a single kick. _'Sugoi!'_ they all thought.

__________

Without further delay, Ichigo quickly went into Shinigami mode and cut the Hollow in half with Zangetsu making the creature disappear. Ichigo watched as the cat girl landed before he merged back with his body again. Renji then appeared in his Shinigami attire after he finally managed to remove his "body suit". "Well that was unexpected," said Renji.

"Renji, where did that girl come from?"

"She kinda came with me, she said she wanted to meet someone here, she never told me her name though."

At that moment, Ichigo and Renji saw the girl sway before collapsing forward. Gasping in surprise, the two men quickly ran forward towards the girl, whose body suddenly erupted into smoke. The moment they reached her, the smoke had cleared, revealing a small grey kitten in her place. "I guess I didn't get enough energy..." they heard her mutter.

"Y-yue?!" exclaimed Ichigo in surprise as he recognized the kitten from Soul Society.

The kitten looked up at Ichigo and slowly stood up. "Ah-ah.. looks like I blew my cover...."

Renji looked at the kitten in shock before looking at Ichigo and back at the kitten again."Ichigo, you know her?"

"You could say that...." replied the boy rubbing the back of his neck. "What about Kaori and the others, are they here too?"

"No, Ichigo-dono, I was commanded by my mistress to follow you, so I trailed you through the gate," Yue replied before dusting herself. She turned to Renji and looked at him. "I haven't properly introduced myself, I go by the name of Kage no Yue, nice to meet you," greeted the kitten, politely bowing her head. "And what is your name?"

"Abarai..Renji.." replied man getting over his surprise.

"Great, now that we all know each other, GET OUT OF HERE RENJI!" yelled Ichigo.

"LIKE HELL I WOULD! I JUST GOT HERE!"

The men continued squabbling causing Yue to sigh heavily. She looked from one guy to the next until she couldn't take it anymore. She quickly got up and jumped onto Renji's shoulder and used her paw to smack a certain area on his neck. Suddenly, Renji's body went rigid, causing him to fall over.

"Oi, Renji, what's wrong?" Ichigo asked in confusion. "What did you do Yue?"

The kitten sat on Renji's chest and looked at Ichigo. "He was causing you trouble, was he not? It was a simple knockout move, no biggie."

Ichigo whistled, obviously very impressed. Anyway, since Renji was knocked out, it made it all the easier for Ichigo to drag him and put him back in his gigai before dragging him outside the school gate. "Sorry Yue, this is as far as I can go, I need to get back to class, do you think you can handle him?"

"But of course- nyanyu," replied the kitten.

Ichigo nodded and quickly ran back to his class. Meanwhile a sly look appeared in Yue's eyes as she turned to the unconscious man. She placed a paw on Renji's head and began to glow blue with chakra. _"Ninja Art: Mind Suggestion Jutsu..."_ she said, her voice sounding echo-ey. _"Go back to wherever you live right now..." _she whispered in Renji's ear. Her echoed in the man head a few times. Suddenly, Renji woke up and got to his feet.

"I got to back wherever I live right now....." he said in a trance-like state before moving away from the area.

A small smile crept on Yue's face. "I got him taken care off, now to keep track of Ichigo-dono," she said running back to into the school and climbing up a nearby tree, stretching herself before promptly falling asleep on a thick branch.

* * *

Meanwhile back in Soul Society, an audible growl was heard as the four genin ran over walls and roof tops as swiftly as possible.

"Naruto!" an appalled Ino exclaimed.

"Hey! Don't look at me, it's not my stomach!" replied Naruto defensively. Both of them then looked at Kiba, who noticed them staring at him.

"I'm innocent!" declared the doggy boy. This led everyone to glance at Kaori, who had a slight blush on her cheeks.

Kaori looked at all of them. "What?" she asked in a flat voice.

_'Well, she's human after all.....'_the others thought sweat dropping.

* * *

**_Ding,Ding! Dong,Dong!_**

The sound of the school bell chiming, signifying the end of school, awoke Yue from her sleep. The kitten yawned loudly as she stretched her body and cracked her neck. She looked down just in time to see Ichigo walking out school gate with a girl with long orange hair and a large tan skinned teenager who towered over Ichigo. She quickly ran down the tree and trotted after the boy.

...............

Just as Ichigo walked out of the gate with Chad and Orihime, he heard a loud meow which caused him to stop in his tracks. Ichigo and the others turned around to see a gray kitten wearing a black collar with a blue crescent moon jewel, trotting up to them. "Yue!" exclaimed Ichigo in surprise.

"Nyaa~!" went Yue as she curled herself around the boy's leg like how any cat would.

"Kyaa! Kawaii~!" squealed Orihime as she knelt down to stroke the kitten. Yue purred as she rubbed her head against the girl's hand. "Kurosaki-kun, is she yours?"

"Eh, not quite..." replied Ichigo, averting his eyes."You could say she followed me....."

"Oh, okay.." said Orihime as she lifted the kitten gently from the ground.

Yue then jumped out of the girl's arms and curled herself around Ichigo's neck, purring loudly, just as the boy wanted to walk away. _"Just play along since you're gonna be stuck with me for a long time..."_ she whispered.

_'Damn you little...!'_

"So what's her name?" asked Chad as he and Orihime caught up to them.

"Oh, it's Yue," answered Ichigo as Yue jumped onto Chad's shoulder this time, rubbing her head against his.

"Yue? That's a pretty name. It means 'Moon' in Chinese, I think," said Orihime while the trio continued to walk. "Hello Yue, I'm Inoue Orihime and this person is Yasutora Sado-kun, but almost everybody calls him Chad."

"Nyaaaaaa...~"meowed Yue while bowing her head.

"She's pretty smart isn't she?" commented Chad.

Yue simply purred affectionately as she let him scratch her ears. Throughout the whole walk home, the trio didn't really talk much since Orihime was too busy fawning over the kitten while Ichigo and Chad just really have nothing much to talk about.

* * *

"I'm back!" said Ichigo as he finally reached home and entered the house with Yue on his shoulder.

"Welcome home, dinner's ready just now," said Yuzu, arranging plates on the table with Karin sitting down and having her back to Ichigo. Since Yuzu was busy preparing the table, she too didn't notice the extra visitor riding on her brother's shoulder.

"You're late!" yelled Isshin Kurosaki as he delivered a flying kick at Ichigo. Suddenly, Isshin saw a gray blur jump from his son's shoulder before seeing three thin red lines slash across his vision in an X shape. "ITAII!!!!!!" he cried out as he fell to the floor covering his stinging face while writhing in pain. Yuzu and Karin turned to see a gray kitten sitting on the floor by their brother's feet grooming itself.

"Thanks Yue," said Ichigo, placing his on the floor to stretch his arms. The kitten meowed in response.

"Where'd you get the cat Ichi-nii?" asked Karin, shifting her gaze from the kitten to her brother.

"KAWAII~!!!!" squealed Yuzu, picking up the kitten and cuddling it.

_'If I had a 100 ryou every time I heard that.....'_ thought Yue as she found herself getting cuddled for the umpteenth time.

It was then Yuzu noticed the crescent moon gem hanging from Yue's collar. "Hey, she has a collar, is she lost?"

Suddenly, the kitten jumped from Yuzu's arms and into Ichigo's with it's back facing everyone else. (Kinda of like when you're carrying a toddler.) _"Tell them a classmate had an aunt who was allergic to cats, was visiting her and asked you to cat-sit me weeks.." _whispered Yue.

Ichigo quickly relayed the 'reason' to his sisters. "You two don't have a problem with her right?"

"I'm cool with it..." said Karin, shrugging indifferently while Yuzu quickly shook her head.

"WAIT! WHAT ABOUT MY OPINION?!" cried out Isshin as he got up from the floor revealing two pairs of three red scratch lines slashed across his face in an X formation. "THAT FURRBALL SCRATCHED MY-" he began to yell until he was interrupted by a mew.

He looked down at his feet to see the kitten curl around his legs while purring loudly before looking at the man with huge blue sparkly eyes. "Nyu~!" Yue mewed cutely.

Isshin tried to close his eyes and look away but made the mistake of opening one eye to look at the kitten. Yue rubbed her head against his shins before rolling on her back to expose her tummy and her pink paw pads, all the while purring and staring at Isshin with glossy eyes. "Nya~Nyu~!" Yue went one more time.

This proved to be too much for Isshin. In his mind, a gun shot rang out and pierced his 'stone, cold heart' with a 'Cutie Bullet'. "AWWWWWW.........~~~!!!!!!" squealed Yuzu and her father at the same time with hearts appearing in their eyes. Karin and Ichigo rolled their eyes at each other.

"I'M GONNA BUY CAT FOOD~!!!"sang Ichigo's father as he danced out the door with hearts floating behind him.

"I'M GONNA MAKE A CAT BED~!!!" Yuzu sang as well with hearts trailing behind her as she ran up the stairs.

Yue looked at Ichigo and winked. The boy simply raised his eyebrows.

* * *

After dinner, with Yue given food by Isshin, Ichigo and Yue walked up the stairs with Ichigo carrying Yue's new cat bed which consists of a basket and an old pillow which was provided by Yuzu. The moment the two arrived in Ichigo's room, they were greeted by a half shredded stuffed lion, just as Ichigo had finished changing into his night clothes. The two looked at the the toy with surprised looks on their faces.

"WHAT'S WITH THAT UNSPECTACULAR LOOK ON YOUR FACE!!!" screamed the doll as it kicked Ichigo's head. Since he was stuffed with cotten, it didn't really hurt Ichigo much. "YOU'RE LOOKING DOWN ON ME!!!!!!"

Ichigo rubbed his face with a still surprised look on his face. "No, um..."

"ACK!" went Kon as Yue stepped on his head from behind.

"Ichigo-dono, who is this ratty old rag doll that speaks rudely to you?" she asked extending her claws a little.

Kon flailed under Yue's paw with muffled removed her paw and and stepped back as the toy got and screamed "WHO'RE YA' CALLIN RATTY, FLUFF-BALL?!"

"Who do ya' think, Ragdoll?" retorted Yue.

Kon and Yue glared at each other to the point that a spark was ignited. "Ichigo! Who the hell is this hairball-hacker?!"

"Yue, this is Kon, an artificial soul in a stuff toy. Kon, this is Kage no Yue, she's from another dimension...."explained Ichigo. "Anyway, what happened to you?"

Kon glared at Ichigo angrily. "YOU'RE TWO LITTLE SISTER'S IS WHAT HAPPENED!!!!!"

"Whatever, I'll take you to Ishida's tomorrow.." said Ichigo, lying down on the bed.

"YOU JERK!!!!" cried out Kon as he began ranting angrily about stuff that was unknown to Yue and tried to pounce on Ichigo's face only to be blocked by a single hand leaving Kon's body flailing in the air.

Yue looked at the two for a while before shrugging and walking towards her basket. Following her instinct, Yue circled around on the cushion, kneading it with her paws before settling down while Ichigo turned off the lights. She looked up to see Ichigo tossing Kon to the floor before grabbing his blanket to sleep. Kon, began to throw a tantrum while beating the floor which made a lot of squeaky noises.

"SHUT UP! GO TO SLEEP!" Ichigo and Yue yelled in annoyance.

"Okay..." said Kon as he obediently stopped his tantrum. And with that, everybody went to sleep, unaware that at that moment, Orihime had woken up and was visited by her brother. As in her older brother.....her older late brother.....as in 'supposed-to-be- dead' brother.....

-------------------

Later that night, Ichigo felt his sleep getting disturbed by someone calling his name. "Hey! Wake up, Ichigo! Hey Ichigo! HEY!"

Ichigo stirred and slowly opened his eyes to find Renji Abarai in his Shinigami form, squatting over him. Ichigo gave small cry before moving back, sitting up in his bed at the same time. "Awake, yet? You're too relaxed..." complained Renji.

"Shut up!" demanded Ichigo, rubbing his head in annoyance.

Renji's presence also awoke Yue, who lifted her head and blinked a few times sleepily before yawning. "Oh, Renji-dono...konbawa...." greeted the kitten in a sleepy voice.

" So? Why did you come here at this hour?" asked Ichigo.

"What are you talking about? It's our job!" said Renji as if it was pretty obvious. "Come with me."

"Huh? Why do I have to go? Or is it you can't do things on your on like Rukia?"

"What did you say?!"

"SHUT UP! IT'S FREAKIN' MIDNIGHT!" yelled Kon in annoyance.

Renji stared at Kon for two seconds before freaking out. "Woah, what the hell is that?!"

Yue watched as Kon began ranting about other stuff while walking towards Ichigo's bed only to be picked up by Renji, who for some reason stuck his hand into kon's mouth and began to rummage for something. After a while, Renji pulled out a small round green pill. Yue widened her eyes in surprise as she watched Kon's body go limp. "I knew it! It was a Mod Soul!" exclaimed Renji before shoving it back the stuff toy's mouth."So by it putting into something like this it can still move?"

"Why are you so interested in it, Renji-dono?" asked Yue."

Renji looked at the kitten as he began to flail Kon about like a....well, a ragdoll..."To tell you the truth I forgot to bring one the last time I was here," he said in a genuinely embarrassed tone.

A large sweatdrop appeared behind Ichigo's head. "So that's why you couldn't get out of your gigai...."

"Do you mean the realistic artificial body you placed Renji-dono into?" asked Yue.

The orange haired boy nodded. "So what's our next job?" he asked, turning to Renji, who tossed Kon to the ground.

"Well, according to the information sent through the new Electronic Spiritual Device, there was some abnormalities. It's nothing impressive, just that its difficult to sense."

Ichigo sat still for a few moments letting the information sink in when a the name of a certain girl came into his mind. "Inoue!"

"Yeah it's near her," said Renji.

"THEN SAY SO ALREADY!"snapped Ichigo angrily grabbing his Shinigami badge and pushing it against his chest, forcing his spirit out in Shinigami form. Yue covered her eyes to shield them from the light. She then heard a loud thump and saw Ichigo's lifeless body slumped from the bed on top of Kon. "Anyway let's go! Yue, stay here!" said Ichigo jumping out of the window in his Shinigami garb. Renji nodded and followed suit.

Yue narrowed her eyes and jumped out of her basket. "Unfortunately, Ichigo-dono, I take orders from no one except my mistress...." she said softly.

"Help me..." yelled Kon's muffled voice from under Ichigo.

The kitten sighed and trotted over to help the stuff toy.

* * *

Renji and Ichigo quickly ran and jumped from rooftop to rooftop as fast as they could getting closer to Orihime's house just in time to a huge menacing looking red gate in front of it. "Over there!" yelled Renji.

The two men quickly increased their pace and landed on the ground. "What is that?!" asked Ichigo when the doors to the gate suddenly opened releasing a huge gust of wind. Renji and Ichigo quickly shielded themselves.

"This is definitely not amateur!" yelled Renji.

"Kurosaki!" called a familiar voice from behind.

Ichigo turned his head to see to of his friends running up to them. "Ishida! Chad!"

At that moment, a scream alerted all the men to see Orihime flying out her window towards the gate. "INOUE!!!"cried out Ichigo.

Suddenly there was a deafening roar and a large winged shadow appeared, grabbing Inoue and heading towards Ichigo's group. The guys stared in awe as the winged shadow was revealed to be a large gray leopard with large white wings wearing a black collar with a blue crescent gem. A surprised Orihime sat on its back. "Are you okay Orihime?"asked Ishida as the girl slid off the big cat's back to the ground.

Upon seeing the leopard's collar, Ichigo looked at the big cat curiously. "Yue, is that seriously you?!"

"Eh?! Yue?!" exclaimed Chad, Orihime and Renji at the same time.

"Who?" asked Ishida confused.

The leopard nodded before exploding into a puff of smoke which cleared to reveal the gray kitten sitting there good naturedly. "Gomene, Ichigo-dono, but my orders were to stay with you, and stay with you I shall."

Everyone else did a huge jaw drop. "Yue can talk?!" exclaimed Chad and Orihime.

"Yue can transform?!" went Renji.

"Who the heck is Yue?!" demanded Ishida.

These questions were left unanswered as Yue transformed back again and jumped forward facing the dark empty street behind the group. "Show yourself!" she growled, her voice sounding a lot more womanly.

Girlish giggling was heard as a small silhouette of a young girl appeared followed by two older men behind her. Since they remained in the shadows, nobody could see their faces or even the color of their hair, just that the young girl wore a cloak while one of the older men wore a top hat. "Who are you?!" demanded Ichigo, brandishing his sword.

"Oh dear, you ruined our plans, that not very nice!" the young girl said playfully. "Don't look up~!" she then said tossing something into the air.

Of course, as we all know, everybody instinctively looked up to see nothing. All of sudden, there was a muffled scream causing everyone to quickly turn around to see the tallest man of the group had grabbed Orihime and knocked her out before leaping into the air and disappearing into a portal. "I told you not to look~!" said the little girl in a sing-song voice as she and the other man jumped into air and disappeared. The large gate also vanished along with them.

Ichigo punched a nearby wall in frustration with enough force to make it crack. "GODDAMNIT!!!!"

* * *

R.F: Wow, two chapters up already after a long hiatus. Not bad if I say so myself! And now over to you Kon!

Kon: YOSHA!!! *appears wearing a superhero cape*

R.F.: *Grabs Kon and throws him through the air*

Kon: Shinigami's Cup!

R.F and Yue: GOLDEN!!!

* * *

Yue and Ichigo stared at Kon with blank expressions. Setting aside last night's events, Ichigo had brought Kon to school and asked Ishida to repair the damages done to Kon when classes were over and everyone else had left. Yue who appeared by the window watched in amazement at Ishida's speedy handiwork with the needle and thread. Of course, knowing Ishida, he went overboard with the repairs, resulting in Kon having his mane and ears replaced with frilled lace and flowers. Pink ones too.

"Sugoi, Yuzu-dono would be pleased if she saw you Kon-chan, you look so _cute..."_ said Yue putting emphasis on cute with a hint of sarcasm.

Ishida pushed up his glasses, clearly pleased with his handiwork. "Of course, it's perfect!"

"HEY! WHAT'S PERFECT?!" yelled Kon, socking Ishida in the face."WHO SAID TO MAKE IT SO FANCY?!" cried the stuffed lion as he continued to pummel Ishida in the face.

"But this is my stylish arrangement!"

"IT'S STUPID!!!"

Ichigo tapped his desk in boredom while Yue, who had jumped onto Ichigo's shoulder, quirked an eyebrow. They both casted sidelong glances to each other as Ishida continued getting boxed in the face by Kon.

In the next few minutes, a beat-up Ishida pushed up his cracked glasses with a shaking hand. "There are no complaints with this right?..."

A properly redone Kon looked at himself in a handheld mirror happily. "Hmm, you should have done this from the start!" he said, obviously satisfied. "Thank you~!"

Ishida nodded, grabbed his bag and left promptly while Kon still admired himself in the mirror, unaware that Ishida had added one extra detail to the back of his head. _"Hmph, he even added the Quincy symbol to the back of Kon's head..."_ Ichigo muttered.

Yue simply sighed, not even bothering to ask Ichigo what he meant.......

* * *

To be continued....


	6. Chapter 6

**_Chapter 6_**

Our chapter begins back in Soul Society, where our four genin sat together hidden away in an alley feeling incredibly exhausted. Akamaru whined loudly while panting heavily on Kiba's lap. Kiba stroked his pup's fur. "Yeah I know Akamaru, I'm hungry too..."

"It's been hours since we last ate...."complained Ino leaning against a sleeping Kaori, who leaned on her as well.

Naruto's stomach growled a little. "I want ramen......"

Suddenly, a shadow appeared in the alleyway getting the attention of Ino, Kiba and Naruto. "My, aren't you kids a little young to be hanging out here by yourselves?" asked a man with long white hair, wearing a white coat over his black shinigami uniform.

The three looked at each other before looking back at him. "Yes, yes we are," they replied in unison. Suddenly a growl was heard from their stomachs, causing the man to chuckle in amusement.

"Well, somebody's hungry! Come on over to my place, I have plenty of food to share!" he offered.

The three looked at him with suspicion.

"Suspicious..." said Kiba.

"Pedophile.." added Ino.

"Do you have ramen?" asked Naruto.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" screamed the other two while Kaori miraculously still remained asleep.

The man nodded and smiled.

"It's okay, he's a good guy!" said Naruto with confidence.

Ino and Kiba looked at him with disbelief. "You can't be serious....."

"OK now that that's settled, come on now!" said the man, suddenly appearing behind them carrying Kaori on his back.

"He's fast!" everyone said.

"Let's go!" he said, cheerfully jogging away.

For a moment everybody was still stiff because they were stunned. It only took them a moment for them to snap out of it and run after the guy, who kept a good distance in front of them. "HEY WAIT! GIVE KAORI-SAN BACK YOU PEDOPHILE!" yelled Ino and Kiba at the same time.

* * *

"Damn! In the end we couldn't find any clues despite how hard we looked," Ichigo said in frustration. He, along with Chad, Ishida and Renji in Shinigami form squatted in a circle behind the sports shed.

"Yeah, I can't feel Inoue's reiatsu at all...." said Chad.

Ishida pushed up his glasses which were sliding of his nose. "If only we had knew what kind of gate that was..."

"It kinda looked like the Gates of Hell but...." Renji began to say.

"Gates of Hell?" asked Ishida in confusion.

"You don't know?"

"I do..." said Ichigo, looking down. "I've seen it once before..." he said recalling back the time he saw it suck in a hollow.

"Gomene, Ichigo-dono...I fell for such a ridiculous trick-nyanyu...."said a new voice miserably.

Suddenly, Renji felt something wriggle in the front of his kimono. All four guys looked to see a lump wriggling and out popped Yue's head from Renji's kimono front. "YUE!" exclaimed they all exclaimed.

"How the heck you got in there without me knowing?!" cried Renji.

Yue didn't say anything as she wriggled her body free and sat on the ground looking at her feet with her ears drooping. "Gomene...Ichigo-dono..." she said in a small voice. Suddenly she felt a hand on her head. Yue looked up to see Ichigo smiling at her.

"It's not your fault Yue, it's those bastards who kidnapped Orihime....if only we had a clue to who they are...."

"And it seems that they somehow erased everyone's memories of her..." added Chad recalling how nobody, not even Orihime's best friend, Tatsuki, remembered who the girl was.

"Just like when Kuchiki-san vanished..." Ishida pointed out.

"Wait, I got it!" exclaimed Ichigo, his face lighting up a little.

Yue looked at him with large eyes. "Ichigo-dono?..."

"It means somebody erased everyone's memories on purpose, that person's calculating our moves! Inoue wasn't spirited away, this was all planned!" explained Ichigo with a confident look on his face.

Everyone nodded in understanding. "Right, I think we might some clues if we search Inoue's house again," suggested Ishida.

"Let's go!" said Ichigo as everyone stood up to leave with Yue jumping on Renji's shoulder.

"Hey, what about class?" asked Renji.

"Now's not the time to worry about that," came the reply. Renji looked at Yue who shrugged, causing Renji to sigh and follow the boys.

* * *

A few minutes later, the group finally reached Inoue's house and rung the doorbell. Of course, no one answered. Ichigo tried turning the door knob but it wouldn't work. "Damn it's locked!"

Chad began to crack his knuckles. "Why don't I.."

"Don't even think about it!"

Ishida pushed his glasses up. "In that case, let me.." he said whipping out his sewing kit. He then selected a long sewing needle and bent it at the end. Just before Ishida had the chance to stick it into the key hole, there was the sound of a lock clicking and the door opened to reveal Yue.

"Irrashai-nyassen!" she said cheekily. **(Note: It's actually _Irrashaimassen _which means Welcome but Yue said changed it since she's a cat.)**

All the men stared at her in surprise. "When and how did you get in?!" asked Renji.

Yue simply pointed to the open air shaft above the door, causing everyone to have dead panned faces. "You could have told us sooner! I ruined my precious sewing needle for nothing!!!!!" screamed Ishida, obviously very pissed.

Ichigo placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let it go Ishida, at least we got the door open...." he said, walking into the room with the others trailing behind. "Let's see what we can find."

Everyone nodded and began searching. Yue pushed a little chakra to her nose to heighten her sense of smell as she began sniffing around the room. Ichigo and Renji made their way to the kitchen first and apart from a dripping tap and a lone glass in the sink the place was bare. Ichigo sighed and looked over his shoulder. "Hey? How's the inside?" he called. Suddenly a munching sound reached his ears as his eyes rested upon Renji drinking milk straight out of the carton squatting in front of the fridge before taking a bite out of a strawberry jelly stick.

"Damn, she doesn't have anything filling...." complained Renji as he continued to raid the refrigerator.

"What are you doing?...."

"I barely ate last night so I'm hungry...." replied Renji.

"Ichigo-dono!" called Yue from the living room.

The two men came rushing to see Yue on the table along with two green mugs filled with cold tea. "Uryu-dono told me that Orihime-dono lived on her own so I thought it was strange that she have two mugs set out," said Yue before sniffing the mug handles and the area around the table. "The weird thing is, I can't seem to get anyone else's scent except for ours and Orihime-dono."

"What? All she has is tea?" asked Renji sourly.

"Can you please not think about food right now?...." asked Ichigo in annoyance.

"Well, I'm hungry! I can practically hear your voice echoing in my stomach!"

"You just ate!"

"It wasn't enough!"

"QUIET!!!!!" snapped Yue sharply.

"Yes, ma'am!" the two men said meekly.

Ishida cleared his throat as everybody sat down to think. "From this its pretty evident that Inoue recognized the person with the unfamiliar reiatsu..."

At that moment, everybody heard the sound of a muffled ringing coming from Renji. The said person quickly reached into his kimono and brought out a cellphone. "Is it a Hollow?" asked Ichigo.

"Nope, it's a phone call..."came the reply as Renji quickly answered it. "Hello?"

_"Hello? Can you hear me?_" asked a familiar voice which quickly got everyone to crowd around Renji, much to his chagrin, especially since Yue was sitting on his head.

"You know, I need to breath guys...."

_"I have Onee-chan! We're here together!"_said the young girl cheerfully on the other line.

Ichigo quickly snatched the cell phone from Renji's hand. "Who are you?!" he demanded into the phone.

_"Hee-hee! Oh no... what should I do? Should I tell you?~"_ the young girl asked playfully, which seriously ticked off Ichigo.

The young man could feel his patience wearing thin with the mysterious caller. "Why did you kidnap Inoue?!" he demanded once more, only to hear playful giggles on the other end. "WHY?!"

His friends quickly shot him looks that told Ichigo to calm down. The caller on the phone giggled once more._"You shouldn't enter people's houses you know! Should I call the police?"_

It was then everyone was struck with the same thought."She's watching us!" exclaimed Renji. Quickly, he along with Ishida and Chad, rushed to the windows to try and catch a glimpse of anyone suspicious. Yue jumped off of Renji's head and began to leap on to the roof top to get a better view. "No one's there!" said the red haired Shinigami.

"I can't get anyone's scent either," reported Yue coming back inside.

_"Wanna see Onee-chan?"_ the girl suddenly asked.

"I don't just want to see her, I want her back!" snapped Ichigo, his voice clearly filled with annoyance.

_"Hee~! Then let's play a game!"_

"A game?"

_"Yep, if you win I'll give back Oneechan!"_

Ichigo was tempted to say something colorful but stopped when Ishida raised a hand. Ichigo took a deep breath. "What do you want us to do?" he asked the girl.

_"Come to Icha park within 3 you're a single second late, who knows what will happen to Onee-chan? Bye-bye, now!"_ and with that, the girl hung up.

The guys fell silent for a moment. "Three minutes?" Ishida said incredulously.

"So, what are you going to do?" asked Chad while Ichigo passed the cellphone back to Renji.

"We have no choice, we have to go!" replied Ichigo determined.

Suddenly, a pop was heard outside followed by a flutter of large wings. "In that case, get on, I'll get us there in no time," offerred Yue in her winged Beast form as she hovered outside the window.

"Do you think you can hold all of us? I am fairly large..." asked Chad, sticking his head out the window.

Yue gave a small growl. "I should have just enough room for three on my back, unless one of you has no problem hanging on to my front paws and don't worry , I'm stronger than I look."

The four looked at each other for a moment before raising their fists. "ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!"

* * *

In a minute, everybody was on the winged leopard's back. Ichigo riding up front with Chad and Ishida behind him clutching the former's waist for safety. "As thrilling as this ride is, this feels so wrong somehow!" yelled Ishida above the rushing wind.

"You're telling me, how do you think I feel?!" retorted Renji who was hanging by his belt from Yue's jaws because he made too much of a fuss after losing Rock, Paper, Scissors.

_'Please be ok, Inoue...' _thought Ichigo.

Once the group could see the park overhead, Yue quickly descended while everyone jumped off before she even landed. "Hey! We're got here in three minute! Show yourself!" called Ichigo.

The group suddenly froze when a phone began to ring, this time from a nearby phone booth. The group wasted no time cramming into the booth while Ichigo snatched up the receiver. "Hello?!"

_"Hooray, you passed the first round!"_ cheered the girl on the other end. _"The next stop is..."_

"Hold it! We got here on time! You promised to give back Inoue!"

The girl giggled cheekily._"Oh, no,no! It wouldn't be fun if you don't play all three rounds! Your next stop is to be at the Sanjoumen no Shoumengai's E-Mart_ _in 3 mins_!"

"What?!" exclaimed Ichigo in disbelief. "That's too far away!"

A series of giggles came back to him. _"Well that's too bad but you might make it with that big spotted overgrown kitten you! You better get a move on if you want Onee-chan alive~! See ya'!" _'click'

Ichigo let out a frustrated growl before slamming down the receiver. "Damned stupid brat! LET'S GO!" he yelled as everybody rushed out of the booth and got on Yue again who took off with a large flap of her wings.

Yue flapped her wings hard so that she gained speed, gliding on any wind current travelling in their direction. Once they got to the area, Yue quickly flew into a dark alleyway unseen and reverted back to her original shape exhausted. Chad carefully cradled the poor kitten as the four guys ran out of the alleyway towards the E-Mart where a black pay phone immediately began to ring. Unfortunately for them, despite their best efforts the store clerk got to it first and was about to answer it when Yue suddenly muttered, _"Ninja Art: Static Shock.."_opening her mouth and fired a small spark of electricity which caused the man to drop the receiver in surprise. Yue quickly fell into a deep sleep in Chad's arms.

The four guys quickly reached the phone with Ichigo grabbing hanging receiver and putting it to his ear. "Quit making us look like idiots you little brat and tell us the next round already!"

_"My, my, someone's a sour puss. I'm sorry but since you're talking so rude to me I'm not gonna tell you!"_

"What?!"

_"Hee-hee-hee~! I'm kidding! This time its at..."_

Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise when he heard the location.

* * *

Kaori's eyes slowly flickered open as her blurry vision cleared to reveal a wooden ceiling. "Where am I?..." she asked, sitting up finding her hair was let down and her forehead protector was removed and folded neat beside her pillow. It was then she also realized that she was in a futon. She looked next to her seeing Ino in another futon but was wearing a white robe and was sleeping peacefully.

She looked around the small room and saw Ino's and her shoes along with their ninja paraphernalia in a corner. Which reminds her...why was she still wearing her own clothes while Ino wasn't? Kaori lifted the futon blanket a little and looked underneath before patting the blanket down. _'Where are my shorts?....'_she thought in embarrassment.

It was at that moment the door slid open and a petite young woman with short boyish, dark blond hair and gray eyes (wearing a slightly different shinigami uniform, noted Kaori) entered the room with Ino's clothes in a bundle. "Oh, you're awake!"said the woman in surprise.

Kaori raised her eyebrows with a look that said 'No Kidding...' "Well...since you're obviously not my nanny, who are you?" she asked.

The woman placed Ino's clothes down, revealing her to have Kaori's shorts and sash as well, all nicely washed and pressed. She gave Kaori and childish smile. "I'm Kotetsu Kiyone, 3rd seat of the 13th division, at your service!" she piped cheerfully. "Sorry that I didn't wash your top and jacket, I didn't know how to remove your gauntlets so I couldn't get the jacket off."

"No..it's all right, only I can take them off..."replied Kaori.

Kiyone watched in interest as Kaori clenched her fists, causing her gauntlets to glow blue with chakra. Slowly, the gauntlets grew in size just large enough for Kaori to be able to slip out her bare arms. Placing them aside, the girl the proceeded to take off her top after turning away modestly from Kiyone, who presented a white robe similar to Ino's. Kaori muttered a thanks before slipping it on. "Where am I anyway?" she asked, pulling her hair out from her robe.

"The 13th Division house," answered Kiyone. "Hungry? Your friends ate already before they dropped to sleep. Especially that blond boy, I've never seen someone eat so much ramen in my life!"

Kaori smiled a little. She liked this lady, Kiyone's personality reminded her of Hikari and Cori, her older and younger triplet sisters. **(Refer to my story, "The Power of Triplets" if you don't know what I'm talking about.)** "Sure thing, Kiyone-san..."

* * *

**Back in the real world**.....

In front of Urahara's shop a young boy with red hair and a young girl with black were alerted by the sounds of charging footsteps as they turned around to see Ichigo's group running towards them at top speed. Since, Yue was out of commission and carried them the first two trips, the boys had enough energy and adrenaline to run twice their normal speed. After getting past Urahara, the boys managed to get to the phone and catch it on the first ring. "Hello?!"

_"Wow! That was fast!"_ commented the girl on the other line.

"Hey, how'd you figure out the number to this place?! Where the hell're you calling from?!" demanded Ichigo angrily.

_"Well I can't tell you that.... but since you cleared the 3rd level, I'll keep my promise~! Your friend will be back at her house at 8pm tonight!"_

"Wait, why tonight? Why not now?!"

_"Hold your horses, I said I'll give her back won't I?"_

"At least let me hear her speak!"

_"Uh-uh-uh! Not till tonight, see'ya!" _'click!'

"HEY! DON'T HANG UP ON ME! HELLO?!" yelled Ichigo.

"My, what's with all the racket?" asked an old man's voice.

The group turned to see a golden eyed black cat walk into the room."Yoruichi-san!" exclaimed Ichigo.

------

After a few minutes of explaining the situation and listening to the phone call which Urahara had so helpfully recorded, the group sat in silence to think for while.

"Sounds like a kidnapping," stated Urahara.

"That's because it _is_ one!" snapped Ichigo.

Ishida placed a hand to his chin. "It could be a trap...." he suggested. "I seriously doubt her captors would just give her back like that."

"Also considering she called the store means she's not your average human.."added Yoruichi.

"A Death God?" asked Ichigo.

"Not necessarily, we can't tell right now with what we have," said Yoruichi, when, uh, his gaze rested upon Yue's sleeping form on Chad's lap. Yoruichi narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

"I agree with Yoruichi," said Urahara.

"But you can investigate right?" asked Ichigo.

"Sure, but don't get your hopes up."

"Thanks, anything helps right now, I can't leave Inoue alone."

Urahara smiled and nodded in agreement. "That's true...."

* * *

Later that night, Ichigo and Renji, dressed in shinigami garb just in case of any trouble, stood in front of Orihime's house with Yue sitting on Ichigo's shoulder, her ears alert for any sign of movement in the house. Ishida and Chad caught up with them shortly wearing home clothes. "What? No cape, Ishida?" asked Ichigo. Yue raised an eyebrow.

"It's at the cleaners...." came an annoyed reply.

"You sent it to the cleaners?" asked Chad incredulously.

"Not important right now, by the way, it's eight already," pointed out Ishida.

At that moment, a bright light flashed from inside Orihime's apartment, prompting the guys to run towards the building. The moment they got there, Ichigo tried the door knob only to find it locked.

"Let me pick the lock," offered Ishida.

"No time, Chad, bust it down!" ordered Ichigo.

Chad nodded and was just about to do so when the light in the room stopped shining. Suddenly, the door knob turned, causing Ichigo to make a grab at his sword handle when the door opened to reveal a confused-looking Orihime. "Kurosaki-kun?"

"So they really returned you?" asked Chad in disbelief.

"What are you talking about?" asked Orihime.

"You were kidnapped last night!" exclaimed Ishida.

"Kidnapped? No way!"

"Do you remember the last thing you did?" asked Ichigo.

"Well, I remembered going back to school for the new semester, seeing everyone again and getting brainfreeze from eating shaved ice with Tatsuki. Then I went home, ate and went to sleep," recalled Orihime before she rested her eyes on Yue. "Hello Yue~! Have you been a good kitty~?" the girl cooed, stroking the kittens head.

"Nyaaa~!" mewed Yue with mock affection.

"That was yesterday!"pointed out Chad.

"They erased her memories..."noted Renji, scowling. Yue narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the girl. Something about her seemed very off.

"Well, at least your unhurt," said Ichigo, relieved.

"But we can't rest easy," warned Ishida.

"You're right, let's wait and see what happens."

"Why don't you come in?" invited Orihime.

The guys looked at each other and nodded before entering. For a brief moment, Yue could have sworn she saw a sly smile play on Orihime's face as they passed her. The next ten minutes went by without incident as Orihime sat with guys in awkward silence while Yue ver took her eyes of the girl. "Want some tea?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Wait, something's coming!" said Ishida. Right on cue, the power went out in the room which began to shake. Yue 's fur began to bristle as she felt a snarl welling up inside her.

A huge black tornado appeared outside the window and bellowed loudly. "Inoue! Get away from the window!" yelled Ishida.

Renji tried the front door. "The door won't open!" he cried.

"INOUE-SAN!" yelled Ishida again.

Ichigo and Renji stared in shock as Inoue wrapped her arm around Chad's neck and began to strangle him with a maniacal look on her face and her eyes glowing red. Even despite Chad's brute strentgh he couldn't free his neck from the vice-like grip Orihime had on him.

"Inoue! What're you doing?! Stop it!" cried Ichigo.

"SHE'S NOT INOUE!!!!" snarled Yue as she began to hiss menacingly, her pupils dilated into slits and her eyes began glowing a brilliant blue in the darkness. She snarled fiercely as she suddenly made a dash at Orihime and leaped at her . "LET GO OF HIM!!!" she cried unsheathing her claws and slashing the girl across the face.

Inoue shrieked at the top of her lungs in pain as blood began to pour from the three long scratches on her cheek but still refused to let go of Chad. Yue snarled even more viciously as she made a lunge from behind and sank both her claws and teeth into Orihime's neck. The girl shrieked again before letting go of Chad and trying to pull Yue off her. Chad collasped on the ground half-consious. "GET OFF OF ME YOU LITTLE HAIRBALL!!!!!!" she screamed but Yue held on tight, digging her claws and teeth deeper. Blood flew as the girl grabbed the scruff of the kitten's neck , yanked her away and threw her at the wall with such force that it cracked on impact.

"Argh!" screamed Yue hitting the wall hard, blood streaming from her mouth.

"Yue!" cried out Ichigo and Renji who ran over to the kitten.

Normally, a throw like that would have killed a kitten easily, but due to being the descendant of a cat demon and being a nin-cat, Yue managed to survive the blow. 'Orihime' pressed a hand over the wound on her neck, blood streaming profusely down her blouse. "Damn you!" she snarled as she began to undergo a transformation. Slowly, the girl in front of them turned in a middle aged man with long hair that was half yellow and half black wearing round glasses and a top hat. He looked seriously pissed with the gaping wound pouring blood and staining his gentleman styled clothing.

"Who are you? You're not the one who called us!"demanded Ichigo.

The man smirked. "Of course not, it would be just too gross if it were my voice! My name is Cloud, and the other...come out Nova!"

Suddenly, a man wearing a fur trimmed coat and a zippered mask came floating through the ceiling. "Pleased to meet you," he said.

"Renji!" called Ichigo.

His friend nodded as they both began to brandish their swords. Suddenly, a red light shone brightly from outside the window, blinding them. There was a strangled cry from Chad. "Got another one!" said Cloud triumphantly as he, Nova and their new captive disappeared.

The guys quickly rushed to the window just in time to see Chad getting sucked into the huge gate from before. "CHAD!" screamed Ichigo as he tried to make a leap from the gate only to be repelled. His quick reflexes allowed the boy to land on the building's roof nimbly. Suddenly, a series of familiar giggles rang out in the air. "It's that kid! Where are you?!"

"Up here!" called the voice.

Everyone looked up to see the little girl from before sitting on top of the gate with Cloud and Nova behind her. "Konbawa~!"

"You're the one whose been making the calls!" said Ichigo, recognizing the voice.

"Yep! I'm Lilin! Nice to meet ya'~!"

"Why the hell're doing this?!"

Lilin giggled some more. "Because it's a game!" she replied cheerfully. "See ya' later~!" she said as the whole gate disappeared along with the trio.

"DAMN!" cried out Ichigo.

"What's going on?!" demanded Renji.

* * *

R.F: Another friend has been taken! What gonna happen now?!

*At that moment, Kon comes sailing through the air.*

Kon: Shinigami Zukan!

Kaori and Ukitake: Golden!

* * *

Kaori is seated on the porch of the 13th Division house looking out at the open field with a food tray in front of her and a bowl of rice in her hand. Kaori popped a bit of rice and beef into her mouth and chewed slowly. _'Yue....I hope you're alright....'_

"Well hello there, I see you're up!" said a man's voice cheerfully from Kaori's right.

Kaori turned to see a man with long white hair and wore a white robe over his shinigami garb. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"My name is Ukitake Jushiro, captain of the 13th Division and you're Nekojiwa Kaori am I right? Your friends told me while you were asleep," replied the man. "May I?"

"Please," said Kaori. Ukitake smiled and sat down beside her as Kaori took another bite.

"So I'm getting the impression, that you and you're friends aren't from around here."

"No comment..." replied the girl. "Please don't sit so close, I don't trust perverts..."

Ukitake felt a huge jolt in his back as a huge red arrow labelled 'Pervert' stuck itself into his spine. The man shifted away a few metres from Kaori and curled into a ball cloaked in depression._"First that blond girl calls me a pedophile and now Kaori calls me a pervert...it's not fair...."_ he muttered tearfully, running his finger along the grooves in the floor._  
_

Kaori on the other hand had finished her food and began to sip tea calmly.

* * *

To be continued....


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Ichigo punched the roof in frustration as he let another friend get taken away again. Renji scowled even more heavily than before. "What are we gonna do now?..." he muttered.

"Guys, get back in here quick!" called Ishida urgently. The two guys looked at each other and quickly shot back into the house where Ishida was rummaging quickly in a first aid kit he had found and quickly withdrew a large roll of bandages. "You guys get a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth! Yue's bleeding badly!" he instructed Ichigo and Renji when he saw them. The two guys nodded and quickly rushed into the kitchen. In a flash the guys appeared again with the said items. Ishida wasted no time using using the cloth and water to dab away the blood pouring from Yue's shoulder. Yue growled a little in pain but relaxed quickly as she felt the Quincy's gentle hands bandaging up her wound.

"There, can you get up Yue?" asked Ishida as he used a piece of tape to fasten the bandages in place.

The kitten pushed herself up and swayed a little. She limped slightly as she tried to walk. "I'll be fine, you have my thanks Ishida-dono,"she bowing her head. "And please forgive me..."

"Huh?" asked all the guys in confusion.

"I felt something was off with Orihime-dono, but I didn't do anything. It was my own incompetence that Sado-dono was taken..." said Yue burying her face in her paws with her ears drooping. "Gomenasai, gomenasai, gomenasai!" she cried, bowing multiple times.

Suddenly, Yue felt a large hand on her head, making her stop. She slowly looked up to see Ichigo looking at her sternly. 'Now see here Yue, its not your fault that Chad got taken. You saw through the fake Inoue right? And you did your best in trying to save Chad! If anything, we were the incompetent ones, not you."

_'Ichigo-dono...'_ sobbed Yue as her eyes got all watery. "Waah! Ichigo-dono!" she cried as she hopped into Ichigo's arms and began to cry. Ichigo and the others smiled as they stroked her fur a little. Yue quickly ceased her crying as she rubbed her eyes with her paws and looked at Ichigo with new confidence.

"Well, let us hurry Ichigo**-sama**!" Yue said as she jumped over a surprised Ichigo's shoulder and out the window transforming.

"HOLD UP!" exclaimed Ichigo as he ran to the window and stuck his head to see Yue in Winged Beast form. "Yue, did you just called me 'Ichigo**-sama**'?" he asked in disbelief.

Yue simply turn to him and smiled. "Why Ichigo-dono, what ever do you mean?" she asked in such an innocent voice making Ichigo wonder whether he was hearing things.

* * *

At Urahara's shop, Urahara and Tessai were calmly sipping cups of tea when they heard a commotion outside their shop. The screen door burst open with Ichigo, Renji and Ishida followed by Yue still in Beast Form dragging in a protesting Kon in Ichigo's body by his shirt. Once inside, Yue finally dropped Kon on the floor and held him down with one large paw, silencing him with a snarl. _"SILENCE! The only reason I have not chewed you to pieces is because you are in Ichigo-dono's body!" _Yue snarled baring her fangs.

Kon gulped loudly and nodded, too scared to move. Suddenly, Ichigo whipped out his Shinigami Badge and slammed it against Kon's/His, chest, forcing a small green pill to pop from the body's mouth. Ichigo quickly caught it and jammed it into Kon's stuffed toy's body, making the rag-doll come to life.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOIN'?" demanded Kon only to be silenced by Yue stepping on him, muffling his word as he flailed about under her paw.

"Urahara-san, could you take care of my body for a while?" asked Ichigo, ignoring Kon.

"Ah! Nyanko-chan from before! If it weren't for your spiritual energy I wouldn't have recognized you in that form!" exclaimed Urahara in surprise, stroking Yue's head before turning to Ichigo. "Not really, no. What's this about?"

"Chad...he got kidnapped as well..." replied Ichigo sadly, causing Urahara to narrow his eyes.

"The enemy's coming after us one by one, it's too dangerous to leave my empty body lying around," explained Ichigo handing his body over to Tessai.

"And what about me?" asked Kon out of curiosity after finally getting free from Yue who de-transformed.

"You're coming with us," came the reply, surprising Kon.

"Oh really, so that means you recognize my talents, huh?" exclaimed Kon with a flourish of his paw before getting slapped down by an annoyed Yue.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Ragdoll..." said the kitten, sitting on him this time despite his muffled protests.

Urahara smiled to hide the sweat drop behind his head as he turned his attention back to Ichigo. "I understand your situation, I'll take full responsibility of your body while its in my care," promised Urahara just as Tessai disappeared into the back room with Ichigo's body.

"Damn! Just what are those bastards? They make fighting them impossible!" growled Renji in frustration, sitting down at the table.

"That just shows frontal attacks are not the only way to attack. We have to use our heads a bit more..."said Ishida sitting down next to Renji.

"Well we know it's not Aizen's doing, so who are these guys?"

"Who knows? Urahara-san, have there been any leads in your investigations?" asked Ichigo, turning to the shopkeeper.

"Well, it is kind of strange. When I analyzed the voice, I couldn't get a spirit print which is an equivalent to a voice print for humans," replied Urahara.

"So what your saying is they are neither shinigami nor human am I correct?" asked Yue, who sat in the middle of the table.

"Bingo, Neko-chan!~"

"Hmph, I thought their spirit energies felt weird..." commented Yue bluntly as she began to groom herself.

Ichigo looked at the kitten in surprise. "I didn't know you could sense spirit energy!"

Yue gave her paw one last lick before glancing at the teen. "There's lots of things you don't know about me, Ichigo-dono..but then again, I happen to be a **very** special cat," she said, giving Ichigo a coy smile.

Urahara whistled in surprise while the rest of the guys gave Yue dead panned faces. "You're not very modest, are you Yue?" asked Ishida bluntly.

"Maaaaay-be?" purred Yue just as Tessai came back with cups of tea and a small saucer with tuna fish. Yue's eyes practically lit up as she mewed happily and rubbed her head against Tessai's hand in thanks as he set the plate down in front of Yue.

Tessai patted Yue on the head before distributing the cups around the table. "If I may...if the enemy is using demonic magic, I don't think the powers of Shinigami or Quincies would be able to stop them. Perhaps maybe if could find some people with powers that differ from yours, you might have a chance," suggested Tessai.

Yue paused in between bites of her meal and glanced up at Tessai. Somehow, she was getting this feeling that Urahara and Tessai have more knowledge than they let on.

"Oh come on! And where do you think we can find such people?" demanded Renji.

"Nekojiwa Kaori..." Yue began to say catching everyone's attention. "Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba, Akamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto...they can help us..."

"Huh?" went Ishida and Renji in confusion.

"Yue, you can't be serious?" asked Ichigo incredulously. Just then, the phone rang, turning everyone's attention to it. Nobody made a move until Urahara decided to to answer it.

"Hello? Urahara's Shop, how may I help you?" greeted the man. There was moment of silence before Urahara gestured to Ichigo. The boy nodded and took the phone.

"It's me," said Ichigo into the receiver.

_"Our game continues at the Karakura Museum, see you all there! Bye-bye!" _was all Ichigo heard the girl say before hanging up.

"So what she say?" asked Renji as Ichigo put down the phone.

"The Karakura Museum, let's go!"

"Alright! I finally get to be part of the action!" cheered Kon confidently.

* * *

**About a few hours later...**

* * *

"This what not what I had in mind..."muttered Kon , folding his arms in disappointment."WHY AM I A BACK PACK?"

True enough, thanks to Ishida (who was carrying him by the way), Kon now had straps on his back and a zipper on his tummy.

"Urusai, Ragdoll! We need someone to watch from the rear and be thankful that we're not forcing you to walk," snapped Yue who rode on Ishida's right shoulder.

"Oh I'm sorry, who was it that said _'I happen to be a **very** special cat'_, huh?" retorted Kon who edged his way up Ishida's back and rested on his left shoulder.

Ishida's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he practically saw the spark of hate flying across his face as the kitten and ragdoll glared at each other growling. Ignoring the two, Ishida sighed heavily. "So, remind me **why** am I carrying these two again?"

"It can't be helped. No one can see me or Renji as Shinigami so it would be weird if anyone saw a floating cat or backpack..."explained Ichigo.

It wasn't long before the group had reached the museum and entered without problem. Once they were in the lobby, the familiar voice of Lilin was heard ringing through the air through the intercom system. _"Welcome! Let's play Hide 'n' Seek! You boys are 'It'! If you can find us, we'll return your friends!"_

"Fine! Lets get this over with!"

_"Oh yeah, leave your weapons over here!"_ indicated Lilin's voice to two large vases with badly spelt cards for Zabimaru and Zangetsu, much to their annoyance.

After letting the two shinigami rant, the group finally made their way in to the first room, which was brightly lit. Just then Yue felt a weird chill up her spine as she passed the doorway with Ishida. _'What was that?'_

"What the hell is up with this room?" exclaimed Renji.

Everyone looked about and saw what he meant. Aside from the doorway they just came through, there were three other's each of them leading into a long stretch rooms, all exactly identical to the one they were currently in. "It's the rooms are perpetually repeating themselves..." stated Ichigo, shocked at the situation.

"Something indeed feels strange..." noted Yue.

"Yeah, I've been gettin' the same feelin' since we got here," added Kon picking his nose.

"Kon, Yue, tell us if you sense anything else ok?"

"Hai, Ichigo-dono!"

"Leave to us!"

Suddenly, Lilin's giggling could be heard broad-casted from all over the place. _"I'm over here~!"_ she taunted her voice echoing from all directions.

Yue's ears twitched madly trying to pinpoint the source of the voice while her nose sniffed the air to try and detect a scent different from her group but to no avail. Her fur began to bristle up in frustration. "I can't pinpoint anything, that might help us."

"It's alright, which way Ishida?" asked Ichigo.

"I suggest the right would be a good choice," suggested the Quincy, as the group made their way through the maze. As he suggested, the group made a right turn at least three times when Yue suddenly perked her head.

"Stop!" she said all of a sudden, making the group freeze in their track.

"Yue? What's wrong?" asked Ishida.

The kitten didn't reply as she jumped of his shoulder and walked back in the opposite direction which they came from much their confusion. Yue sniffed the ground as she walked into the next room when a raised her head with a slight scowl on her face. "This can't be right..." they heard her mutter as she continued sniffing the ground.

"Yue?" asked Ichigo walking up to the kitten.

"Something's wrong, our scent trail is gone..." she informed Ichigo.

Suddenly Ichigo scowled as he dashed into the room which they started in and gasped. "The entrance has disappeared!"

"WHAT?" exclaimed the other two, dashing into the room after him to find that the entrance was indeed gone as they stared down multiple duplicate rooms once more.

"That's weird, I didn't feel any change.." informed Kon when suddenly Lilin's giggling was heard once more.

_"Hey now, you can't clear it like that!" _giggled Lilin, much to the annoyance of the group.

Yue was growling while Ichigo was gritting his teeth. Renji was already getting prepared to bust down a wall when Ishida spoke up. "She was talking about 'clearing it'. Since this is a game, I think there might a riddle we have to solve or something of the sort..." Ishida pointed out.

_"Hee-hee! It's just Four-Eyes said~"_ confirmed Lilin.

"Stupid brat..." growled Renji in annoyance.

"Let's just ignore her, she just wants a reaction that's all," said Ishida. "My guess is their trying to lessen our power and strengthen theirs. If we don't use our heads, we'll be sitting ducks."

The others nodded in agreement. "That's true enough, let's go!" said ichigo as he and Renji were about to make a move when Ishida stopped them once more.

"Hold it, I have an idea," he said as he reached behind him and unzipped Kon, removing a ball of red yarn and tying the end of it to a nearby pole. Kon held on to the ball on the other end. "Kon, whatever you do don't let go of that yarn, it'll help us get around the maze," he explained.

"Sure thing, kid but.. you might wanna do something about the cat..." replied Kon.

The guys turned to see Yue staring intently at the ball of yarn in Kon's hands. Her pupils had grown so big you could barely see her eye color as a loud purring was emitted from her while her ears flattened themselves against her head as she got into a crouching position. Her tail swished from side to side as she wiggled her hips. "NYA~!" she mewed loudly as she pounced in the direction of Kon, who flinched.

"Woah hold it, Yue!" said Ichigo catching the kitten and holding her by the scruff on her neck.

_"Nya! Ball of wool...must...play with it!"_ she strained as Yue wiggled and tried in vain to scratch at the ball of yarn which Kon kept out of reach while Ichigo held on to her tightly.

"Well, she maybe a talking cat that spits lightning, but I guess she's a cat all the same.." muttered Renji as Ichigo kept a tight hold on her while he walked in front, followed by Renji and finally Ishida with Kon letting the wool trail behind them.

This time the group changed their tactics and decided to go straight instead. However they barely even passed one room when they saw a doorway that was darker than the rest. Considering how it stood out, the group decided to enter that particular room. It was dark and empty, save for three tall glass cases. "Ichigo-dono, that case has your name on it!" Yue exclaimed, her night vision spotting a name plate on the center case.

The three guys quickly took a closer look to find out it was true. "This one has **my **name on it!" exclaimed Renji, inspecting the one next to it. "And this one has Ishida's!"

"Look, there one with Yue's name!" pointed out Ichigo to a small case on a stand which indeed had Yue's name on it.

Suddenly, Ishida let out a startled cry as he stumbled back into Ichigo. "Inoue-san!" he exclaimed. The rest turned their heads and gasped as they saw Orihime looking through a glass exhibition case blankly. Her expression was zombie like and there was no light in her eyes at all.

"And Chad!" exclaimed Renji alerting the group to turn around to see Chad in a similar state.

Suddenly, a thick black mist began arising from the ground, clouding the group's vision. Before they could do anything, all three boys ground themselves in the glass cases. "Ichigo-dono!" a muffled cry of Yue's was heard as the boys turned their heads to see Yue trapped in the smaller glass case as well. The space inside was small and narrow forcing Yue into a sitting position. Lilin's giggling was heard once again as Yue saw a brief image of her through the fog. It was then the group realized that they couldn't move their bodies at all, much to their horror.

Just when Yue felt her mind almost go blank, she felt a sharp pull on her tail, making her yowl in pain. "WAKE UP YOU STUPID CAT!" screamed Kon, revealing that it was him who had given her tail the tug.

Yue turned and hissed loudly at Kon before slapping him with her paw. "THAT HURT!" Yue snarled angrily when she realized that she could move her body and that she was not in the case anymore. In fact all the cases had disappeared. "Ichigo -dono!" Yue cried when she saw Ichigo unconscious on the floor next to Renji and Ishida. She placed a paw on the boy and sent a small electrical shot into his body.

"YAAAAAAAH!" screamed Ichigo as he got jolted awake. Kon was able to wake up Ishida and Renji by repeatedly pummeling them.

_"Winged Beast Jutsu!"_ exclaimed Yue as she transformed and scooped the boys onto her back and ran out of the room with Kon attached to her tail.

Once outside, the guys all slid off her back and sank to the floor panting hard. "Man, suddenly collapsing on me like that, you scared the heck out of me!" exclaimed Kon as he explained to them how he had un-clipped himself from the strap and woke Yue up first before present time. "You guys owe me big time!"

_'That black mist was very similar to genjutsu,'_ noted Yue mentally as she decided to remain in her transformed state in case anything happens.

Once the guys had calmed themselves down they began making their way through a different room, this time with Renji in the lead. "This one seems ok!" he informed the others after inspecting it before making their way to the second one when he suddenly stopped. "Don't move!" he exclaimed.

The others looked over his shoulder to find that the floor in the next room had disappeared, forcing the group to take another route. The guys gingerly stepped on the floor in the next room. Since it felt solid enough, they decided to proceed through it. Ishida appeared to be very deep in thought as he lagged behind. "It's strange..." he said. "Considering the size of this building, an infinite loop like this is impossible..."

"That's easy to say..." muttered Ichigo as Yue began sniffing the air and ran to another room before gasping.

"Ichigo-dono! Look!" she said pointing with her paw.

The guys ran to her side and looked into the room to see the pole they had tied with the red wool. The group quickly ran up with Ichigo inspecting it. "Ishida, let Kon down," he ordered.

Ishida quickly did so as Ichigo held on to the wool. "Hang on Kon!"

"Wait, wha-!" yelled the Mod soul as Ichigo gave the string a sharp pull, yanking Kon in the other other direction. It took Renji and Ishida almost all their strength to restrain Yue from running after him considering she was in her Leopard form.

After hearing Kon screaming as he got dragged down the rooms he soon reappeared back in the room they were in. "This is like a Mobius Ring!" exclaimed Ishida as Kon landed at his feet with a splat. "All the rooms are connected!"

"That means we've been circling this place repeatedly..." said Renji grimly while Yue poked at Kon on the floor who twitched.

"They can do that?" asked Ichigo incredulously.

"I can't think of another explanation. Anyway, we should better figure out this game soon," suggested Ishida as he reached down and pulled out a notepad. "If I draw out the path we've taken so far..." he muttered as he began sketching. He then placed the book down on the floor for everyone to look. Ishida had drawn out the layout of the path and shaded out two corners where they had encountered the traps. "Looking at this, we so far only encountered traps when we took straight routes."

"Contrarily, when we took L-routes, there weren't any traps at all," added Yue.

"Great! Now that we've figured it out, we can get out of here!" exclaimed Renji jubilantly.

"Yeah!" agreed Ichigo as the two began walking away.

"I sure hope so..." muttered Ishida, closing his notebook and picking up Kon once more.

The group continued walking once more only this time making sure to take L-routes. The group continued this method repeatedly for what seemed like ages until they all finally collapsed to the floor feeling tired.

"This is ridiculous!" complained Renji loudly.

"We're missing something here," Ishida said as he rummaged through Kon and pulled out a large water bottle, much to the shock of Yue and Kon.

"How long are we gonna be stuck here?" complained Renji once more.

"Pipe down! With all your complaining I can't believe you're actually a Lieutenant!" said Ichigo in annoyance.

"What did you say?"

"You're supposed to be in charge of this town! If you were more reliable, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Trying saying that again, I dare you!"

"SILENCE!" roared Yue loudly, stepping in between them. "You two are acting like children! Don't you see? They want us to argue! It's their way of toying with us!"

The two men scoffed at each other and began walking in opposite directions angrily making Yue slap her head with her paw.

_"Hee-hee! 5 points to the huge kitty!" _giggled Ririn's voice.

Yue growled loudly at the girl. _'I am so gonna eat her for lunch...' _she snarled when Yue noticed something was weird with the room up ahead. It appeared to be warping before her eyes. Ishida happened to noticed this to as he began to work things out in his head.

"I got it!" he exclaimed, alerting the others. He began to whisper his plan to them.

"It's that simple?" exclaimed Ichigo incredulously.

"Yeah, but I need to borrow your Badge for a moment," replied Ishida.

"Sure, but what are you gonna do?"

"Just watch," was the reply as he began running towards the room with Yue close behind. The moment his feet touched the floor, it began to crumble but Ishida didn't fall at all even when the floor was completely gone. He just kept running with the others quickly closing in behind him until they were out of the room. It was then the rooms disappeared and the group found themselves in the dinosaur exhibit.

"Correct~!" exclaimed Lilin who giggled some more. Everyone quickly looked to see the girl sitting on top of the model T-Rex Skeleton looking down at them smiling cheerfully in an annoying sort of way. "So how'dja figure it out?"

"The key was in how the rooms were arranged. I noticed it when I drew out a map," explained Ishida pushing up his glasses. "There were 9 rooms in total arranged in a 3x3 formation, all of them infinitely looped with each other. Whether vertically or horizontally, if we could cross 3 squares, we win."

"But in order to mislead us, you had illusions set up in the third rooms so that we would take another route, believing they were traps," continued Yue, narrowing her eyes. "Had we not have realized it, you would made us walk a never-ending route. But what you did not count on was Ichigo-dono and Renji-dono splitting up, therefore resulting in three squares being occupied at once."

"At that point you panicked, which caused the space to warp a little. Although to be honest, that was just by accident. That was when I realized your game," finished Ishida smirking confidently.

Lilin applauded the group a little. "Bravo~!" cheered the girl before a dark look covered her face. "But you know... the game isn't over until you catch us..."

Before anyone could react, Nova appeared behind Ishida and held him in a choke hold. The others wanted to help their friend but Nova was holding Ishida in a way that can allow Nova to snap Ishida's neck at any moment. Despite the position he was in, Ishida did not lose his smirk. "It _is_ over..." he said as he gripped Ichigo's badge and slammed it against Nova's leg.

Suddenly, the man went rigid as he threw his head back and a familiar looking pill popped out of his mouth as he collapsed to the ground.

"Hmph, I knew it you guys are Mod Souls," confirmed Ishida massaging his neck.

For once, Lilin's smile had dropped. "No way..how did you-?"

"Your spirit energy has a similar feel to that rag-doll, it didn't take long for us to figure it out..." said Yue who had appeared behind Lilin. "and since you are not a real little girl.." **_WHAP!_**

**_"KYAAAA!"_**screamed the girl as Yue whipped around and slapped the girl off the T-rex skull so hard that she flew and hit a nearby wall with a thud before hitting the ground hard.

Just as Yue was about to pounce on the two, Cloud appeared out of the shadows, grabbing Nova's body and Soul pill as well as Lilin's unconscious form and ran out the door.

"Get back here!" yelled Ichigo as the group quickly ran ahead with Yue being the fastest but Cloud was easily keeping distance between them as he burst through the museum doors.

Yue was about to spread her wings to fly after when she saw two familiar people standing outside. "Inoue? Chad?" exclaimed Ichigo in surprise.

"Kurosaki-kun!" replied Orihime in relief as the group came running up to them forgetting about Cloud. Yue was so relieved that she finally reverted back to her original form and jumped in the girl's arms rubbing her head against hers while purring loudly before doing the same with Chad.

"How-What happened?"

"I don't know, we both just suddenly appeared here," replied Chad when suddenly a shadow was cast over then causing everyone to turn around to see the gate which the trio before had used.

"So they're trying use that gate again, huh?" exclaimed Renji.

"That's not the case this time..." came the soft reply from above. Everyone looked up to Nova back in his Gigai carrying Zabimaru and Zangetsu while Cloud carried an unconscious Lirin on her shoulder. Without a word, Nova threw back the swords to their respectful owners, who caught them. Yue narrowed her eyes at the two.

Cloud and Nova jumped down with Lilin as the gate opened behind. Nova went in first while Cloud remained. "You might have won this game, but the next one is about to start," said Cloud.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Yue, snarling loudly.

"School is about to start, you better go or else your friends might disappear one by one..." said Cloud simply as he nodded his hat at them before disappearing into the gate which disappeared shortly after, leaving a group of very confused teenagers and a leopard.

* * *

**_R.F.: And we're back after another long period of writer's block! _**

**_Kon: *Appears with a cape* Osu! Ravena-neechan! I'm ready!_**

**_R.F.: Ikuzo KON! *Grabs Kon and flings him threw the air*_**

**_Kon: SHINIGAMI ZUKAN!  
_**

**_Rukia and Matsumoto: GOLDEN!  
_**

* * *

Back in Soul Society...specifically Captain Toshiro's office...

"HOW CAN YOU LOSE 4 KIDS, YOU BOOBUS FREAK?" screamed Rukia while shaking Matsumoto back and forth.

"I DON'T KNOW! THEY JUST..DISAPPEARED!" retorted the older woman.

"In any case we have to find those kids!" exclaimed Rukia as the two woman began to search all over for the four genin and pup.

They searched high and low, asking around places.

"Oi, you four! Come out wherever you are!" called Rukia running down a street when suddenly- **_WHAM! _**she collided with someone hard making the person's groceries fall on the ground.**_  
_**

"Itai..." groaned Kiyone amidst her dropped groceries.

"Kiyone-san! Gomenasai, but I'm in a rush!" said Rukia hurriedly before dashing off.

Kiyone shook her head and sighed heavily as she cleared up the fallen goods. "What a shame, I was going to tell her about our new guests. Oh well!" she said cheerfully, picking up her stuff and going on her way to her Squad's headquarters.


End file.
